Dubbaka: TRS Pays Heavy Price for Ignoring Anti-Incumbency

Telangana Rashtra Samiti’s Car dealt with a massive jolt for the first time ever since it came to power in 2014. The Pink Party which dealt with every election after that effortlessly is dealt with a rude shock in the Dubbaka by-election.

After winning the seat with a 62K majority in 2018, TRS lost the seat to BJP. Raghunandan Rao of the Saffron Party managed to snatch the victory with around 1500 votes majority. BJP which used to be a distant third in Telangana Politics announced its arrival loud with a sensational victory.

Out of the 23 rounds of counting in Dubbaka, TRS was barely leading in ten rounds which were not enough to sustain the victory. Ever since the victory in 2018, TRS has started ignoring the possibility of anti-incumbency. Even an adverse result in the Parliament election could not wake up the party.

TRS also ignored the BJP threat till the last minute and it backfired. The public outbreak after Hyderabad Floods also put the party on backfoot. And it has praised a heavy price now. BJP will carry this energy to the GHMC elections. If TRS loses there, the 2023 election will be wide open. BJP’s Central Leadership will fuel the state unit going further and TRS should come up with some plan to counter them.

Jai Telangana slogan is unlikely to work forever. TRS should change its election plank and start recognizing the fact that people would look for an alternative always when there is a promising opposition.

Update at 4 PM:

Election Commission says counting of 4 EVMs is still pending due to technical error. The 4 EVMs have 1669 votes approx. Analysts say Result unlikely to change.

Regardless of the outcome, the opinion in this article ‘Danger Bells for TRS’ does not change