T elects its first govt today

• Voter besieged by claims of all parties for T credit
• High stakes for TRS born solely for achieving State

Hyderabad: Wednesday will be the big day for 2.81 crore voters in Telangana as they will exercise their franchise for electing the first government of the new State of Telangana that would come into existence on June 2. This election is very crucial for all the major political parties and will prove to be an equal challenge for the voters to choose their candidate as the elections are being held under very special circumstances. The General Elections will be a close contest between the TRS and the Congress, while the TDP-BJP combine is also expected to make certain gains.

The voters, including 1.37 crore women, will decide the political fate of 1,669 candidates contesting for 119 Assembly seats in the region, as also 265 candidates for 17 LS seats. Congress, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and Telugu Desam-Bharatiya Janata Party combine are the main contenders for power. Though there are other players like YSR Congress, Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, Aam Aadmi Party, Lok Satta Party, CPI and CPM in the fray, they have a little at stake in the elections.

As far as TRS is concerned, very much is at stake. Having been in the forefront of Telangana agitation for about 12 years, it stakes a strong claim to the credit for achieving the dream of people of the region. It is pinning all its hopes on this factor to come to power. Its chief K Chandrasekhar Rao who wants to become the first chief minister of Telangana state is contesting from Gajwel Assembly constituency.

The other prominent leaders who are testing their luck for the Assembly elections are former Deputy Chief Minister C Damaodara Rajanarsimha, J Geetha Reddy, K Jana Reddy, D Sridhar Babu, TPCC president Ponnala Lakshmaiah, D K Aruna, T Harish Rao, Vijayashanti, D Srinivas, G Kishen Reddy, Rajya Sabha MP V Hanumantha Rao, N Uttam Kumar Reddy, Akbaruddin Owaisi and others.

Prominent among those who are seeking election to Lok Sabha are Union Minister S Jaipal Reddy, TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao, his daughter K Kavitha, Lok Satta Party president N Jayaprakash Narayan, former DGP V Dinesh Reddy, former IAS officer M Chaya Ratan, CPI State Secretary K Narayana and Majlis chief Asaduddin Owaisi.

According to Chief Electoral Officer Bhanwarlal, polling will take place from 7 am to 6 pm, except in 11 Maoist-affected Assembly constituencies where the polling will end at 4 pm. Malkajgiri and Secunderabad Lok Sabha constituencies have the highest number of 30 candidates, while there are only six contestants in Nagarkurnool. Among Assembly constituencies, Amberpet constituency in Hyderabad has 32 candidates while five each are contesting in Boath and Andhole.

While KCR is confident of bagging 90 assembly seats and forming the first government of Telangana, the BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said that this election will be decisive one and that BJP-TDP combine emerge as a major player. The Congress is equally confident of coming to power and forming a government on its own. The Congress party feels that the Muslim votes which are decisive in many parts of Telangana would go in their favour. “It will be a CM (Congress-Muslim) combination,” the Congress leader said.