HYDERABAD: The Congress and the BJP are competing to capture into the BRS' dwindling vote bank in the Lok Sabha polls in Telangana, reducing the former ruling party in the state into an also-ran. While the Congress and the BJP are projecting a national agenda while the BRS has locked itself up with local issues.
As per surveys conducted by major parties, sources said, the BRS vote share is expected to erode by 12 percentage points in the Lok Sabha polls when compared with the Assembly elections in December 2023. The sources said the BRS may end up with getting about 25 per cent of the total votes, down from 37.35 per cent polled just five months ago.
However, it is not clear who would gain from the loss of the BRS as it depends on how the Congress and the BJP reach out to voters for the next 30 days.
The BRS had secured 46.87 per cent of the votes polled in the December 2018 Assembly polls and won 88 seats out of total 119 to retain power for a second term.
In the Lok Sabha elections held four months later in April 2019, the BRS vote share slid to 41.29 per cent. The Congress and BJP, on the other hand, saw an increase in their vote share. While the BJP added 6.98 per cent votes taking its total to 19.45 per cent, the Congress improved its position slightly from 28.43 per cent in 2018 to 29.48 in 2019.
In the Assembly polls held in December 2023, the BRS vote plunged to 37.35 per cent, a decrease of over 11 percentage points. The Congress’ vote share zoomed by 11 percentage points to 39.40 in 2023, clearly indicating that it had grabbed almost all the BRS votes.
Support for the BJP too doubled between the 2018 and 2023 Assembly polls, from about 6.9 per cent to 13.90 per cent. Its vote share in the 2023 state polls, however, saw a fall of about six percentage points from the 2019 general elections when it won four Lok Sabha seats.
These figures clearly indicate that the Congress and the BJP ate into the BRS votes when it was in power. The BRS has lost power now and is facing an exodus at all levels of the party, leaving its support base particularly vulnerable.
Even in terms of the Lok Sabha polls, the BRS performance is on the decline. The BRS won 11 Lok Sabha seats out of 17 in 2014 and nine in 2019. The BJP won just one seat in 2014 and four in 2019. The Congress tally increased from two in 2014 to three in 2019.
