The Congress, BJP, and the BRS are looking at the panchayat polls as an opportunity to improve their presence in the state.
Published May 22, 2025 | 8:27 AM ⚊ Updated May 22, 2025 | 8:27 AM
Panchayat elections. (iStock)
Synopsis: As Telangana prepares for long-overdue panchayat elections, political activity is intensifying. Congress, despite being in power, faces criticism over delays and unfulfilled promises. BJP is gaining ground with increased rural support, while BRS, weakened by electoral losses and internal rifts, is working to rebuild its rural base.
There is once again the all too familiar political buzz with the elections to the village panchayats in Telangana around the corner.
The elections are long overdue as they were originally expected in January–March 2025. Though the government has not yet taken any decision, reports indicate that it was giving serious thought to holding them in June or July and might even go up to August, as it cannot defer them forever.
BC welfare minister Ponnam Prabhakar told South First on Wednesday that the elections for panchayats will be held in June-July. “We are going to take a decision in a couple of days at an informal meeting of the ministers chaired by the chief minister. We will decide whether to issue a GO providing 42 percent reservation if the centre remains unmoved to include the bill passed in the Assembly in the ninth schedule off the Constitution,” he said.
The Congress, BJP, and the BRS are looking at the panchayat polls as an opportunity to improve their presence in the state.
While, Congress, being the ruling party, has the advantage, though it too has been grappling with several challenges, the BRS is trying to pool its resources to change the narrative that it is down and out. On the other hand, the BJP is keen on emerging as the alternative to the Congress by pushing the BRS aside as far as possible.
Already, the five-year term of the 12,769 panchayats, elected in January 2019, had expired on 31 January, 2024.
Since 1 February, 2024, the panchayats came under special officers’ rule. Heading them were officers of the rank of tahsildars, mandal parishad development officers, agriculture officers, and mandal education officers.
The reasons for the interminable delay are not hard to find. The main obstacle is not only the reservation policy but the Congress’ lack of self-confidence with the BRS breathing down its neck, exposing the delay in implementation of the promises made on the eve of the Assembly elections.
As there are no indications that the bill passed in the assembly providing 42 percent reservations to BCs in local bodies would be included in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution anytime soon, the Congress is understood to have decided to shift the blame to the NDA government at the Centre for not acting on its request and go to the elections for panchayats with the present reservation of 23 percent.
Voicing the possibility of denial of 42 percent reservations to the BCs, National Backward Classes Welfare Association president R Krishnaiah said on Sunday, 18 May: “There is a conspiracy brewing to avoid giving 42 percent reservations to BCs in the upcoming panchayat elections. The leaders of both the BRS and the Congress are trading charges on panchayat elections without referring to the 42 percent reservation.”
“The Revanth Reddy government appears to be planning to shift the blame to the Centre and go to the panchayat elections without providing the promised 42 percent reservations.”
As no elections have been held since February last year, the special officers’ rule has brought with it problems to the villages. There has been a disruption in funding from the Central Finance Commission, which led to development taking a backseat. When the panchayats had elected bodies under the BRS rule, they had won 79 national awards between 2015 and 2022.
The reservations for Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), and Backward Classes (BCs) in Telangana’s panchayat elections are done in accordance with the Telangana Panchayat Raj Act, 2018, as amended by the Telangana Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018.
The Telangana Panchayat Raj Act, 2018, initially provided reservations for SCs and STs based on their population proportion and a fixed 34 percent for BCs, but this was amended in 2018 to comply with the Supreme Court’s 50 percent cap. The Telangana Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018, restricted total reservations to 50 percent, reducing the BC quota to accommodate SC and ST proportions.
At present, there is 23 percent reservation for BCs (reduced from 34 percent in 2018 to comply with the 50 percent cap, as per the Telangana Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018).
The Congress, led by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, had promised a 42 percent BC quota in the 2023 election manifesto (Kamareddy Declaration). The 2024 caste survey and 2025 bills fulfill this pledge but face legal and political hurdles.
In March 2025, the Telangana Legislative Assembly passed the Telangana Backward Classes (Reservation of Seats in Rural and Urban Local Bodies) Bill, 2025, proposing to increase BC reservations to 42 percent in local bodies, including panchayats, based on a caste survey showing BCs constitute 56.33 percent of the state’s population. This bill also adjusts SC and ST quotas to 18 percent and 10 percent, respectively, but requires Central Government approval to exceed the 50 percent cap.
Opposition parties (BJP, BRS) have supported the 42 percent BC bill in the Assembly. The last panchayat elections in Telangana were held in 2019 under the 50 percent cap (20.46 percent SC, 5.73 percent ST, 23 percent BC). Upcoming elections will likely follow the same percentages unless the 2025 bill is approved by the Central Government.
Though no dates have been officially announced, Congress, BRS, and BJP are gearing up for the elections. These elections are critical for all three parties, as they serve as a referendum on the Congress government’s performance and a test of the opposition’s strength.
As the ruling party, Congress has an advantage. It has 64 seats in the 119-member Telangana Legislative Assembly and holds 8 Lok Sabha seats. It has a vote share of 39.4 percent in 2023 Assembly elections, up from 29.48 percent in 2019 and 40.1 percent, up from 29.48 percent in 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The Congress is banking on four of its six promised guarantees from the 2023 Assembly election – the Mahalakshmi scheme (free bus travel for women), LPG subsidy, Rythu Bharosa (farmer support), and Gruha Jyothi (free electricity). Though a ₹2 lakh crop loan waiver also might help the party, the BRS alleges that it did not cover all the farmers.
The Congress leaders have a nagging feeling at the back of their minds that the people were angry with them as many promises had remained unfulfilled even now, such as the full implementation of the crop loan waiver.
Meanwhile, the BJP has significantly improved its standing in Telangana, winning 8 Lok Sabha seats in 2024 (up from 4 in 2019) and 8 Assembly seats in 2023 (up from 1 in 2018), with a vote share jump to 35 percent in 2024 from 19.45 percent in 2019. This reflects growing rural support, particularly among OBCs and upper castes.
The BJP is leveraging Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s guarantees and the Viksit Bharat 2047 vision, appealing to aspirational rural voters. Its focus on Backward Classes in ticket distribution strengthens its appeal among BC communities.
The BJP is capitalizing on anti-incumbency against Congress and BRS’s decline, positioning itself as an alternative. Its 2023 Assembly campaign targeted BRS’s alleged corruption and Congress’s failures, a strategy likely to continue in panchayat elections too.
Despite gains, the BJP’s strength is concentrated in northern districts of Adilabad, Nizamabad, Karimnagar and urban areas like Secunderabad. Its 2023 Assembly wins were limited to seven seats in Adilabad and Nizamabad, indicating weaker penetration in southern and central Telangana.
BJP is well-prepared with a growing vote base, recent electoral successes, and strong central leadership, but its limited rural organizational depth compared to Congress and BRS could hinder widespread success in the diverse gram panchayats.
Though the main opposition party BRS has suffered electoral setbacks, it still retains a strong rural cadre, having ruled Telangana from 2014 to 2023 with 88 seats in 2018 and 39 seats in 2023 (37.35 percent vote share). Its welfare schemes like Rythu Bandhu, Dalit Bandhu, and Shaadi Mubarak have deep rural penetration.
BRS claims cadres in every village across Telangana’s 33 districts, offering a robust network for panchayat-level mobilization.
The BRS is actively taking on Congress for its governance failures, such as the Musi Riverfront Development Project and unfulfilled promises, and organizing the Miss World 2025 contest without bothering about the stress in the farm sector, to regain rural support. Its boycott of Telangana Formation Day 2024 and focus on KCR’s legacy resonate with some rural voters.
The BRS is planning to reclaim the ground it lost in the 2023 Assembly election (won only 39 seats of 88 tally in 2018) and losing in 2024 all the 9 Lok Sabha seats which it won in 2019, with its vote share dropping to 17 percent from 38 percent.
BRS finished third in 14 of 17 Lok Sabha constituencies, indicating a weakened rural base.
This apart, the BRS has faced an exodus of MLAs, MPs, and cadre to Congress. K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR)’s diminishing public presence, coupled with K Kavitha’s arrest in the Delhi liquor policy case, have demoralized the cadre. Alleged internal family rifts (between KTR and T.Harish Rao) and Kavitha’s cryptic comments that she was being targeted by BRS leaders appear to have further weakened the party unity.
Allegations of corruption (Kaleshwaram project, phone-tapping) and family rule continue to remain a drag on the party.
Though the BRS has a strong historical rural network and welfare legacy, its electoral routs, defections, and leadership crises are perceived to have hampered its preparedness. The party is likely to focus on rebuilding grassroots support by leveraging anti-Congress sentiment.
(Edited by Sumavarsha)
