Stage set for Telangana Assembly election 2018 results: Prajakutami's chemistry vs KCR’s charisma

The stage is set for counting of votes in Telangana Assembly elections on Tuesday which will decide the fate of 1,821 candidates. Polling for 119-seat Telangana Assembly was held on December 7. The counting will begin at 8 am on December 11, Tuesday.

Most of the exit polls for Telangana, where voter turnout was recorded at 73.20%, have suggested that incumbent Chief Minister and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao will retain power. However, the Prajakutami – an alliance of Congress, Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Communist Party of India (CPI) and Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS), has expressed confidence that it will form the government in the youngest state of India as the results will be in its favour.

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The other party in the fray, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has also claimed that though it may not be in position form a government on its own in Telangana, but will play a “vital role” in the government formation.

The All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM), led by Asaduddin Owaisi, has already extended its full support to KCR-led TRS. Though the AIMIM has contested the elections on just eight Assembly seats, the party may emerge in a position to play a crucial role in government formation in the state, considering the fact that it is a multi-corner contest.

Apart from KCR, those in the race for chief ministership in Telangana are Nalamada Uttam Kumar Reddy, the state unit chief of the Congress party, and M Kodandaram, the founder of Telangana Jana Samithi, which is a constituent of the Prajakutami.

According to Telangana's Chief Electoral Officer Rajat Kumar, all required arrangements have been made for the counting day and the strongrooms, where EVMs are kept, are secured with central paramilitary forces providing "first cordon of security."

One of the strongroom keys is kept with the external observer and as a precaution, political parties are also keeping a watch, he said.