For Congress, the gram panchayat win is a morale booster but also a wake-up call. Party leaders are reportedly gearing up for “necessary steps”, including strengthening the cadre and addressing anti-incumbency in pockets where BRS performed strongly.
Published Dec 18, 2025 | 11:00 AM ⚊ Updated Dec 18, 2025 | 11:08 AM
File photo of Congress supporters in Telangana. (INCTelangana/Facebook)
Synopsis: The supporters of the Congress secured a larger number of Gram Panchayat Sarpanch seats in Telangana. However, the ruling party in the state is placed in a fragile situation ahead of the Mandal and Zilla Parishad polls. What threatens the Congress is the BRS’s performance, despite being out of power, which signals a resilient base in rural strongholds.
Although the supporters of the Congress secured a larger number of Gram Panchayat Sarpanch seats in Telangana, the ruling party in the state is placed in a fragile situation before the hustings of what we term the three-tier political set-up — the Mandal and Zilla Parishads. The numbers also project the growing confidence of the Opposition BRS, while the ruling Congress leaders are expected to take necessary steps to stay in the fray for the next Assembly elections.
The recently concluded gram panchayat elections in Telangana, held in three phases on 11, 14 and 17 December, delivered a clear victory for the ruling Congress. Candidates backed by the grand old party emerged victorious in approximately 6,794 out of the 12,727 contested Sarpanch posts across the state, including unanimous elections.
This translates to over 53 percent of the total seats, underscoring the party’s strong rural foothold just a year after its resounding win in the 2023 Assembly elections.
The principal Opposition party, the BRS, secured around 3,503 seats, maintaining a respectable second position, while the BJP lagged far behind with about 697 seats. Independents and others accounted for the remaining 1,651 seats.
On the surface, these results affirm the popularity of Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s government, particularly its welfare schemes and the implementation of enhanced reservations for Backward Classes (BCs) in local bodies.
Congress leaders, including Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President B Mahesh Kumar Goud, have hailed the verdict as evidence of rural voters’ confidence in the party’s governance. High voter turnout — averaging over 84 percent across phases — further highlights public engagement, with the third phase recording 85.77 percent.
However, a deeper analysis reveals a more nuanced picture that places the ruling Congress in a precarious position ahead of the upcoming Mandal Praja Parishad (MPTC) and Zilla Praja Parishad (ZPTC) elections, which form the intermediate and district-level tiers of Telangana’s three-tier panchayat system.
Although only gram panchayat polls were conducted in December 2025 due to pending legal issues on BC reservations, the MPTC and ZPTC elections are expected soon, potentially in early 2026. These party-symbol-based contests will be a direct litmus test for organisational strength, unlike the non-party gram panchayat polls, where informal backing played a role.
The BRS’s performance, securing nearly 27–28 percent of Sarpanch seats despite being out of power, signals a resilient base in rural strongholds. This is particularly evident in districts historically dominated by the pink party, such as Siddipet (a former stronghold of BRS leader K Chandrashekar Rao and Hareesh Rao), where BRS-backed candidates swept nearly 69 percent of seats in the second phase, and areas like Komaram Bheem Asifabad and Jangaon.
In Khammam district’s second-phase polls, BRS won 42 seats against Congress’s 113 in select mandals, even clinching key villages despite alleged pressures from ruling party leaders.
Such pockets of strength indicate that BRS retains significant grassroots loyalty, especially in regions where the previous KCR government’s schemes, such as Rythu Bandhu, left a lasting impact.
Overall phase-wise trends reinforce this:
• Phase 1: Congress ~2,300-2,400 seats; BRS ~1,000-1,200; BJP ~150-200.
• Phase 2: Congress ~2,200-2,250 seats; BRS ~1,100-1,200; BJP ~200-300.
• Phase 3: Congress ~2,200 seats; BRS ~1,145; BJP ~240.
Cumulative figures show Congress leading comfortably, but BRS’s consistent second-place finish — often giving a “tough fight” as reported — projects growing Opposition confidence.
District-wise data, although not fully granular in official releases as of 18 December, highlights regional variations that could influence higher-tier polls:
• Congress dominated in 27 of 33 districts, sweeping majorities in areas like Mahabubnagar, Nalgonda, and Rangareddy.
• BRS held or led in Siddipet, Komaram Bheem Asifabad, Jangaon, and parts of Khammam and Karimnagar.
• BJP showed pockets of strength in Nirmal and Adilabad but remained marginal overall.
These district patterns suggest that while Congress benefits from incumbency and state schemes, BRS’s localised influence could translate into MPTC/ZPTC gains, where party machinery and symbols come into play.
The deferred higher-tier elections stem from legal challenges to the 42 percent BC quota, but once resolved, they will expose vulnerabilities. Reports of clashes, alleged harassment of opposition candidates, and close margins (some decided by coin toss) in gram panchayat races hint at underlying tensions.
For Congress, the gram panchayat win is a morale booster but also a wake-up call. Party leaders are reportedly gearing up for “necessary steps”, including strengthening the cadre and addressing anti-incumbency in pockets where BRS performed strongly. The results reflect satisfaction with current governance but also lingering affection for BRS’s decade-long rule.
As Telangana approaches the full three-tier elections, the ruling party finds itself in a vulnerable situation: Celebrated for village-level dominance yet wary of Opposition resurgence at mandal and district levels. The BRS, buoyed by its resilient showing, appears poised to challenge Congress’s rural narrative.
Ultimately, these gram panchayat outcomes set the stage for a fiercely contested battle in the higher tiers, with implications for the 2028 Assembly polls.
Rural Telangana has spoken favorably of Congress for now, but the Opposition’s growing confidence ensures the political landscape remains dynamic and unpredictable.
(Views are personal. Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
