Congress leads in majority seats in Telangana, KCR trails

Hyderabad, Dec 3 (IANS) The Congress has crossed the half-way mark in Telangana as the trends after the first round of counting in all of the state's 119 Assembly constituencies showed on Sunday.

The Congress candidates have established leads in 63 constituencies, while ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) was ahead only in 43 segments.

The BJP had taken a lead in eight constituencies, while AIMIM was ahead in four segments.

Chief Minister and BRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao was trailing in Kamareddy behind Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president A Revanth Reddy.

At the end of the first round, Revanth Reddy was leading by 890 votes.

The Congress leader was also ahead in the Kodangal constituency.

Initial trends show KCR was leading in Gajwel, from where he is seeking re-election.

Ministers E. Dayakar Rao, K. Eswar, P. Ajay and A. Indrakaran Reddy were trailing in their respective constituencies.

Former TPCC president Uttam Kumar Reddy and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka were also leading in Huzurabad and Madhira, respectively.

The BRS, which had bagged 88 seats in 119-member Assembly in 2018, contested all seats on its own, while Congress had left one seat for its ally CPI.

The BJP contested 111 seats and left eight segments for its ally Jana Sena Party (JSP) led by actor-politician Pawan Kalyan.

The AIMIM contested nine seats, all in Hyderabad, and backed BRS in the remaining constituencies.

The Asaduddin Owaisi-led party had seven members in the dissolved house.