Telangana Election Results highlights: Counting done, Congress declared winner with 64 seats

Supporters of India's main opposition party, Indian National Congress, celebrate early leads for their party in Telangana state elections in Hyderabad.

Telangana Election Results highlights: The Congress on Sunday appears to storm to power in Telangana as it won 40 seats and was leading in over 24 seats in the 119-member state Assembly. The BRS has already conceded defeat. As of 6 pm, the Congress was ahead of the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in Telangana, which won 17 seats and was leading on 22 seats The BJP was ahead on 4 seats.

Notably, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who fought the election from two constituencies is currently behind in the Kamaredy. He was behind his main challenger and the state Congress president, A Revanth Reddy, by over 3,000 votes. The incumbent chief minister was leading in Gajwel.

The counting of votes for the Telangana Assembly election began at 8 am, according to the Election Commission. Votes cast through postal ballots were being counted first, followed by those polled through the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). The majority mark in the state is 60.

Besides Telangana, the Assembly election results of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are also being announced. Follow live updates from these states here.

Voting across the 119 constituencies of Telangana was held in a single phase on November 30. According to the Election Commission, a voter turnout of 70.60% was recorded. The turnout was the highest in Jangaon at 83.34%, trailed closely by Narasampet at 83% and Dubbak at 82.75%. Notably, the voting percentage in Hyderabad was low at only 39.97%. In all, 32.6 million voters were enrolled and 35,655 polling stations were set up across the state. (Click here to follow constituency-wise results)

As many as 2,290 contestants are in the fray including key candidates such as chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao from two constituencies – Kamareddy and Gajwel, his minister-son K T Rama Rao from Sircilla, Telangana Congress unit chief A Revanth Reddy from Kamareddy and Kodangal, senior BJP leader Eatala Rajender from Gajwel and Huzurabad, and BJP Lok Sabha member Bandi Sanjay Kumar from Karimnagar. (Full list of winners - Congress, BRS, BJP)

Also in the fray are T Harish Rao and Chamakura Mallareddy of the BRS, Mohammad Azharuddin, N Uttam Kumar Reddy, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka of the Congress and Akbaruddin Owaisi of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).

Here's what else you need to know about Telangana election results:

• Multiple exit polls predict the Congress could end KCR's reign in India's youngest state. However, India TV-CNX exit polls had predicted BRS to return to power with 70 seats.
• An exit poll by the India Today-Axis My India project that Congress could stage a comeback in the southern state of Telangana, possibly ruining incumbent KCR's ambitions of a third straight term in office.
• In the event of a hung assembly, the Congress is reportedly gearing up to keep its flock in Telangana together and prevent poaching of MLAs.
• In 2014, the BRS (then Telangana Rashtra Samithi or TRS) won 63 seats, which was just three more than the absolute majority mark. Yet, within a few months, KCR poached 12 MLAs from the Telugu Desam Party, eight from the Congress, three from the YSRCP, two from the BSP, one from the CPI and an Independent.
• In 2018, too, the BRS lured opposition MLAs, though it had won 88 out of 119 seats. Besides 12 out of 19 Congress MLAs, it poached two TDP MLAs and two Independents.