As the vote count progressed on Sunday, Congress looked set to secure a simple majority in Telangana, leading in 65 Assembly segments. While the BJP appeared to be making significant gains in the Hindi heartland with possible wins in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan, the southern state showed a favourable inclination towards Congress. Nevertheless, the saffron party was positioned for an improved performance if the existing trends continued by the end of the day.
According to the latest EC update, Congress was leading in 65 of the 118 seats that it contested from, while the BRS was ahead in 39 segments.
The simple majority to form government is 60 seats.
The BJP, which has 3 members in the outgoing 119-member House, was leading in 8 seats.
According to the EC, Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM and was leading in 6 seats and CPI in 1.
Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao was leading by 8852 votes over his nearest BJP rival Etala Rajender after six rounds of counting, even as he was trailing in Kamareddy by 1768 votes.
Telangana PCC chief A Revanth Reddy was leading in both the seats- Kamareddy and Kodangal from where he contested.
KCR's son and BRS working president KT Rama Rao was leading with 25296 votes over his nearest Congress rival KK Mahender Reddy.
All three BJP Lok Sabha members who contested in the assembly polls were trailing behind their nearest rivals.
BJP's firebrand MP and ex-state chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar was trailing behind his nearest BRS rival Gangula Kamalakar Reddy by 6349 votes after the tenth round.
Nizamabad MP D Arvind was trailing behind his BRS rival Kalvakuntla Sanjay by 7190 votes after the 11th round.
Soyam Bapurao was trailing behind BRS' Anil Jadav by 15330 votes after the 13th round.
The Congress' good show sparked off celebrations by party workers.
Jubilant mood prevailed at the residence of Revanth Reddy and the party's state headquarters here.
Celebrations broke out at Gandhi Bhavan, the party office, where overjoyed workers were seen setting off crackers and raising "Jai Congress" and "Revanth Anna Zindabad" slogans.
Security was also stepped up at Revanth Reddy's residence with additional police personnel being deployed.
Reddy is expected to arrive at Gandhi Bhavan this afternoon, Congress sources said.
Sensing victory, Reddy posted on 'X,' "Yesterday, today, tomorrow you are my strength..Congress forces moved to protect Telangana."
Addressing reporters, senior Congress leader and party MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy said he expected his party to win close to 70 seats, and attributed the spirited campaign led by Rahul Gandhi besides the corruption and inaccessibility of ruling BRS, to the grand old party's success.
The ex-PCC chief, who is leading from Huzurnagar, said the Bharat Jodo Yatra undertaken by Rahul Gandhi was a huge success in the state and his campaign helped the party in a huge way.
To a query on the factors going against BRS, he said the ruling party had "less governance and more talk".
He further said there was no question of poaching of Congress MLAs by the BRS.
Asked if Revanth Reddy would be acceptable to him as a chief minister, Uttam Kumar replied, "Don't pose any controversial questions."
He said he would abide by the AICC decision.
The Chandrasekhar Rao-led Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) has been in power since 2014, when Telangana was granted statehood and won the 2018 elections as well and was hopeful of a hattrick.
The Congress had mounted a spirited election campaign with a view to unseat the near decade-old incumbent, even as the BJP also launched a no holds-barred attack against the ruling dispensation.
While the BRS has 101 members in the outgoing Assembly, AIMIM has 7, Congress 5, BJP 3. The All India Forward Bloc has one legislator. There is one independent while there is one vacancy.
(With PTI inputs)
