TRS sweeps rural local body polls in Telangana

HYDERABAD: The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) in Telangana swept the rural local body elections by winning 449 of the total 538 Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies (ZPTCs) on Wednesday. Congress bagged 75 ZPTCs, while the BJP secured eight, according to the final tally announced by the State Election Commission. 

In the elections to 5,817 Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies, the TRS won 3,548, while Congress and BJP managed to win 1,392 and 208 Mandal Parishads respectively. The performance of the Telugu Desam Party, CPI and CPI(M) continued to be poor. 

The election for 539 ZPTCs and 5,817 MPTCs were held in three phases in May. The counting of votes started on Tuesday and ended on Wednesday. Upbeat over his party's 'historic' win, TRS working president KT Rama Rao said responsibility on the party grew following the massive victory in the rural local body polls.

Here are the live updates:

* In Karimnagar district, the party won 13 ZPTCs of the total 15 and 77 MPTCs. The TRS bagged 77 of the total 178 MPTCs in the poll. Congress and BJP emerged victorious in 21 and 12 MPTCs respectively. The party, however, lost in Chinna Mulkanur, an adopted village of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao in the MPTC (Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituency) polls.

* In Nizamabad district, TRS lost in Pothangal, the village of the in-laws of former TRS MP K Kavitha, daughter of Rao. She was defeated by her BJP rival in Nizamabad in the recent Lok Sabha poll. The polls were held in three-phases last month.