With all set for the counting of votes on Friday morning, and results expected to be out by afternoon, tension was mounting for all the political parties and candidates. As both Telangana and Seemandhra people have also voted to elect their first State Governments, the result of 42 lok Sabha seats has receded to background though the BJP will be keenly looking at them.
Chief Electoral Officer Bhanwar lal, who held a video conference with the district officials of both the regions to review the arrangements for the counting, said that first result was expected by 10 am and all the results will be announced by 4 pm.
leaders of the major parties have gone into a huddle to chalk out their strategies for various scenarios. In Telangana, where many have predicted a hung State Assembly, both the main contenders of power Telangana Rashtra Samiti and the Congress were weighing their options.
While the TRS was putting up a brave front despite not so impressive performance in municipal and panchayat elections, TRS leaders maintained that their supremo K Chandrashekhar Rao was going to form the first State Government.
Fearing poaching of its newly elected legislators by Congress, the TRS has also put in place the plans. Telangana State Congress president Ponnala lakshmaiah met other senior party leaders Uttam Kumar Reddy and K Jana Reddy at an undisclosed location to chalk out the strategy to deal with a hung situation. The party was hoping that its ally CPI will also bag a few seats to help in reaching the half-way mark. At the same time, Congress leaders were also reaching out to the MIM which was expected to win 7 to 10 seats.
Not to be left behind, the TRS leaders were also sending feelers to the smaller parties specially the MIM as well as the BSP which was likely to win an Assembly seat. The Muslim political party, which has expanded its political base beyond the old city of Hyderabad, was expecting to play a major role if no big party secures a majority of its own.
TRS and Congress leaders have indulged in a public spat and made allegations and counter allegations regarding their future strategy targeting each other. Though the feeling among the people was that of a coalition of the Congress and the TRS, but the present bitterness does not suggest such an arrangement is possible.
In Seemandhra, the TDP is confident of coming to power on its own after it swept the Zilla Parishad elections and many exit polls projecting a big win of TDP-BJP alliance. But YSRCP was also equally confident after NDTV showed it winning 80 to 100 of the 175 Assembly seats in the region. It gave 75 to 95 seats to the rival TDP.
YSRCP spokesperson Vasireddy Padma said that there was no doubt that the party was going to win with big majority and Jaganmohan Reddy will become the Chief Minister. “TDP leaders are baking in the falsified glory that they successfully played mind game on people. But Seemandhra Assembly results will totally block their minds,” she said. Telangana has 17 and Seemandhra has 25 lS seats.