HyderabadRural Telangana appears to have decisively swung towards the ruling Congress in the first phase of the Gram Panchayat elections, dealing a blow to the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which had maintained a firm grip over several districts for nearly a decade.Final tallies from multiple districts indicate a clear consolidation of rural support for the Congress, while the BRS struggled to retain its traditional bases.Khammam, Gadwal, Nalgonda, and Medak districts recorded a strong surge for the Congress, while Karimnagar, Nizamabad and Warangal, once considered the heartland of the BRS, witnessed a significant shift, with the ruling party outperforming its rivals even in Sircilla, the constituency of BRS working president K. T. Rama Rao.The Congress registered notable victories across Karimnagar, Peddapalli, Mancherial, Asifabad, Nirmal, Nizamabad, Kamareddy, Yadadri, Suryapet, Nagarkurnool, Gadwal, Narayanpet, Sangareddy, Hanamkonda, Medak, Warangal, Bhupalpally, Mulugu, Jangaon, Mahabubabad, Vikarabad and Rangareddy districts.Erstwhile BRS bastions such as Karimnagar, Peddapalli, Nizamabad, Kamareddy, Gadwal, Narayanpet, Medak, Hanamkonda, Rangareddy, Vikarabad, Jangaon and Bhupalpally saw considerable erosion of the BRS party’s base.A neck-and-neck contest unfolded in Jagityal, Adilabad, Mahabubnagar and Wanaparthy between the Congress and BRS. In Siddipet, the stronghold of former minister T. Harish Rao, the BRS managed to retain its dominance. Of the 163 Gram Panchayats that went to polls, BRS-backed candidates won 73, while Congress secured 64. The district remains one of the few where the BRS outperformed the ruling party. One of the most symbolic outcomes emerged from Sircilla. Out of 85 Panchayats, Congress-backed candidates secured 39 seats, while BRS won 21, according to claims of the ruling party.The BJP, however, failed to make an impact anywhere except a few pockets of Karimnagar represented by Union Minister of State for Home Bandi Sanjay. Interestingly, it fared poorly in Nizamabad, Adilabad and Mahabubnagar districts, all the Parliament seats represented by the BJP.The first phase of the Panchayat polls reflects a significant shift in Telangana’s rural political landscape. With Congress displaying dominance in most districts, the fight in the second phase gets more interesting.Published - December 12, 2025 12:24 am IST