KCR’s party got a slim lead in the crucial Telangana elections

Hyderabad:

In the by-election to Munugode assembly seat of Telangana, there is a tough fight between the BJP and the Telangana Rashtriya Samithi led by K Chandrashekhar Rao. (TRS).

TRS candidate Kusukuntala Prabhakar Reddy is leading over BJP’s Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy by over 3,000 votes, according to the latest Election Commission data.

For Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, a victory is significant as it is the first election since launching the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), declaring his national ambitions ahead of the 2024 election.

The bypoll was necessitated following the resignation of Congress MLA Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy, who had joined the BJP earlier this year. The main contest is between BJP’s Raj Gopal Reddy, TRS candidate Kusukuntala Prabhakar Reddy and Congress’s Palvai Shravanthi.

The bypoll has emerged as one of the costliest elections in recent times, with candidates accusing voters of giving money and concessions to voters.

After recent victories in Dubak and Huzurabad assembly bypolls and the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) election, the BJP is hopeful of a victory in Munugode before next year’s Telangana elections.

For the Congress, losing Mungode would be a major setback after the debacle in Telangana, including the 2014 and 2018 state elections.