Has the People’s Front led by the Congress party performed well in the reserved constituencies than the general seats? Figures reveal that 7 out of the 19 seats won by the Congress are in the seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) while the two seats won by the Telangana Telugu Desam Party (TTDP) are also from the reserved constituencies.
In three other reserved seats the Congress party lost with narrow margins and they too could have fallen in the party kitty if the candidates were announced a bit earlier.
Party leaders say that SC and ST seats constitute 26% of the total seats in the Assembly and they contributed about 40% of the total winning seats for the People’s Front.
Out of the total 31 SC and ST seats the People’s Front bagged nine seats and this was possible, party leaders claim, due to the elaborate Leadership Development Mission in Reserve Constituencies (LDMRC) exercise taken up in mission mode through building the organisation from the booth level.
Comprehensive training
The LDMRC exercise also included activating the organisation through trainings and call centre, voter mapping, giving MLA candidates village level action points, village wise categorisation of strengths and weaknesses in addition to real time political updates from the ground during their campaign.
The training was taken up for party workers right from the booth level. Over 4,000 workers were trained in each constituency, according to AICC SC Department incharge for Telangana and Andhra Pradesh S.D.J.M. Prasad.
Visible results
The Congress bagged Asifabad (ST), Nakrekal (SC), Mulug (ST), Pinapaka (ST), Yellandu (ST), Madhira (SC) and Bhadrachalam (ST) while the TTDP won in both seats Sathupalli (SC) and Aswaraopeta (ST) it contested in the reserved constituencies.
Interestingly, out of the 13 seats that the TTDP contested as part of the electoral understanding it won only in these constituencies.
A rebel candidate of the Congress, Ramulu Naik also won after being denied ticket in Wyra (ST) constituency after it was earmarked for the Communist Party of India (CPI) as a part of the alliance.
Mr. Prasad said the AICC SC Department had recommended Mr. Ramulu Naik’s name for the seat before it was allotted to the CPI.
