As campaigning comes to an end in Telangana on Wednesday, India's youngest state is engaged in a tough battle between the ruling TRS and Congress-led People's Front. The state will go to polls on Friday.
Major Players
Ruling TRS and Congress-led People's Front are the main rivals apart from the AIMIM which is restricted to Hyderabad. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is another force to reckon with but its strength is confined to few constituencies. The other players are the Communist Party of India-Marxist and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) who have formed a coalition called Bahujan Left Front (BLD).
TRS faces a tough challenge from People's Front which also includes Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Communist Party of India (CPI) and Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS), a new party floated by M. Kodandaram who was a close friend of chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao during the Telangana movement.
The elections also mark the beginning of new friendship between the Congress and the TDP who have put behind their 37-year-old rivalry to join hands. The Congress is contesting in 94 of the 119 seats, leaving the rest to its allies.
Previous Election Data
Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, whose TDP won 15 seats in 2014, has fielded candidates in 13 constituencies. The outcome is expected to be a big test for Naidu's efforts to forge an anti-BJP alliance at the national level.
In the 2014 Assembly elections which were held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls, TRS polled 33% votes bagging 63 seats while Congress got 21 seats with 24% votes. TDP and its then ally BJP secured 15 and 5 seats respectively with 21% votes (TDP 14%+BJP 7%).
The YSR Congress had polled 3% votes and got 3 seats. Others and independents had 11% vote share.
The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) won 7 seats.
Political Equation
This time the YSR Congress is not contesting the elections and has declared its support to TRS.
Except the eight constituencies in Hyderabad where the AIMIM has fielded its candidates, it is supporting the TRS in rest of the state.
TRS is contesting in all the seats on its own. It has retained almost all the outgoing MLAs and also gave tickets to nearly two dozen MLAs of Congress and TDP who had crossed over to the ruling party after 2014 elections.
This triggered dissidence in the party, leading to rebels entering the fray in some constituencies.
While the TRS campaign banked on its achievements, the People's Front and BJP targeted TRS chief K. Chandrashekhar Rao for 'family rule' and failure to fulfil the promises.
TDP's presence in poll fray provided KCR, popularly known as Rao, a chance to raise the issue of Telangana pride. He called on people not to allow any backdoor entry to Naidu, saying the TDP chief would harm the state.
KCR has addressed over 100 rallies as against 25 by Congress President Rahul Gandhi who shared dais with Naidu in at least six meetings.
The TDP chief campaigned in Khammam district and Greater Hyderabad which have large number of voters from Andhra Pradesh.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed three public meetings as BJP President Amit Shah campaigned aggressively. The party also roped in several central ministers and several BJP chief ministers including Yogi Adityanath from Uttar Pradesh.
About 2.80 crore voters will be deciding the political fortunes of 1,821 candidates in 119 constituencies.
(With inputs from agencies)
