News18 Mega Opinion Poll: Treble Trouble in Telangana for INDIA, as BJP May Win in Three-way Tussle – News18

The Bharatiya Janata Party is likely to win eight of Telangana’s 17 Lok Sabha seats, doubling its 2019 tally, with the INDIA front bagging six, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) two, and Others one, according to Network18’s Mega Opinion Poll aired on Thursday.

The survey though predicts the highest vote share for INDIA, at 34%, followed by BJP at 28%, BRS 27%, and Others 11%.

The opinion poll conducted from February 12 to March 1 covered 21 major states of India that account for 95 per cent of all Lok Sabha constituencies, making it one of the largest surveys in the country. It provides valuable insights into the political landscape of India, offering a detailed analysis of voter sentiment and preferences ahead of the upcoming general elections.

In 2019, the Congress won three out of the 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana. All three MPs, including current chief minister A Revanth Reddy, contested the recent assembly elections and won. The K Chandrashekar Rao-led BRS won nine seats in 2019, while the BJP bagged four. Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM had retained one seat.

Months after capturing power in Telangana, the Congress has set an ambitious target of winning at least 12 of the state’s 17 Lok Sabha seats.

Though the grand old party won the recent assembly polls, it failed to win even a single seat out of the total 24 assembly segments in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits. Of the total 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana, four constituencies — Malkajgiri, Secunderabad, Hyderabad and Chevella — are in the GHMC limits.

The BJP, meanwhile, is targeting at least 10 seats. In his visit to the state on December 28 last year, senior party leader and union home minister Amit Shah had set the party a target to win at least 10 seats and secure 35 per cent vote share in Telangana. The BJP won just eight of the 119 seats in the recent assembly polls in the state.

The BJP is upbeat as two MPs and several other leaders from Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) joined its camp in the last few days.

The saffron party has announced candidates for nine out of 17 Lok Sabha seats in the state. Three out of four MPs feature in the list, including union minister for tourism and culture and state BJP president G Kishan Reddy and BJP general secretary Bandi Sanjay Kumar.

The BJP has decided to field BB Patil from Zahirabad. The BRS MP switched over recently.

The BJP named Pothuganti Bharat as its candidate from Nagarkurnool. He along with his father and MP Pothuganti Ramulu joined the BJP on February 29.