Hyderabad: Low voter turnout in Tuesday’s election has left the BJP and Congress concerned, most particularly the former who had mounted a massive campaign to win more districts in the GHMC, covering 24 segments of the Assembly and five constituencies of Lok Sabha.
With the final voting percentage figures coming in, the TRS seemed more confident that it would form the GHMC Council for the second consecutive term. The AIMIM also sounded comfortable and even hoped to snatch Ghansi Bazaar, which it had lost by a few votes in 2016.
Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao has convened a meeting of party election officials from all divisions in Pragathi Bhavan on Wednesday to get an idea of the polling trends. The sources said he warned the leaders not to make any claims regarding the numbers until the party reviews the situation with more data available.
Sources said ground reports as of Tuesday night indicated that TRS had a clear lead in 75 divisions. TRS leaders spoke of the general political belief that low voter turnout always favors the incumbent.
In the BJP camp, the leaders seemed concerned that their high-energy campaign did not result in mobilizing voters. Sources revealed that the low turnout may end the party’s hopes of increasing its turnout from seats to 50. The estimate at this time is 15 to 20 seats.
TRS leaders said the election eve dharna of BJP activists, who alleged that their state chairman Bandi Sanjay had been attacked in MS Maktha had only served to highlight nervousness before election day.
Congress feared that those who voted would be swayed by the community-focused election campaign of the BJP, TRS, and MIM. Congressional leaders expected to win eight to ten seats based on their focus on development.
In the Old City, the vote seemed to remain one-sided. MIM leaders felt that if more people had come to vote, there would have been room for enthusiastic competition. That did not happen, and the party hopes to maintain the 44th division it won in 2016.
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