It was the Telangana Rashtra Samithi backed candidates’ show all the way in the gram panchayat elections, the third phase of which concluded on Wednesday.
Elections were notified for 4,115 gram panchayats of which TRS backed candidates were unanimously elected as sarpanches in 586 gram panchayats. As a result, elections were conducted for 3,529 sarpanch posts in 32,055 polling stations with 11,667 candidates in the fray. Of the total 45.23 lakh voters, 39.82 lakh exercised their franchise between 7 a.m. and 1 p.m. taking the polling percentage to 88.03.
The elections registered polling of 85.76 % in the first phase, 88.03 % in the second phase and 88.03 % in the third taking the total poll percentage in three phases to 86.67. Polling percentage in excess of 90 was registered in eight of the 29 districts where polls were held in the third phase.
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Polls were not conducted in the Medchal-Malkajgiri district in the third phase.
As the results continued to pour in, the TRS supported candidates won in more that 1,500 gram panchayats while the Congress remained a distant second bagging 486 panchayats.
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Independents, majority of whom are affiliated to the ruling party, won in over 270 gram panchayats while the TDP, BJP and the Left parties could not make any major impact in the elections.
The TRS appeared to be heading for landslide victory in the three phases together with the party supported candidates winning close to 7,000 of the 12,732 gram panchayats. Added to this are over 1,600 gram panchayats bagged by candidates affiliated to the ruling party taking the total number of gram panchayats to over 8,000 or around 70 %.
Candidates supported by the Congress won as sarpanches in close to 2,300 panchayats till the results last came in while the TDP, BJP and the Left parties could manage to win over 300 panchayats in the three phased election.