Postponed Telangana Civic Poll Results Out, Congress Wins 7 of 8 Posts

The ruling Congress party has further consolidated its hold over Telangana ’s urban local bodies, winning chairperson posts in 7 of the 8 municipalities where elections were completed on Tuesday. The municipalities won by Congress include Torrur, Jangaon, Dornakal, Sultanabad, Indresham, Zaheerabad, and Yellandu , while the opposition BRS secured its lone victory in Kagaznagar . The polls were conducted in eight of eleven municipalities where voting had been deferred earlier due to clashes and procedural disputes, while elections in Ibrahimpatnam, Kyatanpally, and Khanapur were postponed again because of court cases and administrative reasons. Following the completion of the civic election process, the State Election Commission lifted the Model Code of Conduct across the state.

High drama unfolded in Torrur and Jangaon , where Congress and BRS held equal strength, forcing officials to decide the chairperson posts through a lottery draw. In Torrur, BRS won 9 of 16 wards and Congress 7, but ex-officio votes from elected representatives brought both parties to parity, leading to a draw that elected Congress candidate Shravan as chairperson. In Jangaon, both parties again reached equal strength with support from independents and ex-officio votes from legislators and a Member of Parliament; the lottery once more favoured Congress, handing it another crucial civic post. These contests underscored the decisive role of alliances, independents and statutory ex-officio votes in tightly contested municipalities.

The chairperson elections were preceded by protests, scuffles and allegations of councillor poaching in several towns, prompting authorities to postpone voting in eleven municipalities earlier in the week. Elections were completed in eight of them on Tuesday, reflecting intense political rivalry and heightened tensions between major parties during the indirect election process.

The municipal elections held on February 11 with counting on February 13 covered 116 municipalities and 7 municipal corporations , making them one of the largest civic exercises in the state. Congress emerged as the clear winner across urban Telangana, securing more than 1,300 wards , while BRS won around 700 and the BJP nearly 275. Earlier, Congress had captured 5 of the 7 mayor posts and dozens of municipal chairperson positions, including 81 decided earlier , reinforcing its dominance in urban governance.