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The upcoming elections to the local bodies in Telangana would be the first political litmus test for the Congress government, which is already grappling with growing public resentment over unfulfilled poll promises.

 

It has been a mixed bag of hits and misses for the Congress since coming to power in the December 2023 Assembly polls.

 

The elections to panchayat bodies, to be held in September as per the high court’s directive, would be the first grassroots-level electoral battle for the ruling party, which is keen on bagging a majority of zila parishad and mandal praja parishads (MPP), along with gram panchayats.

 

A plethora of challenges stare at the Congress, including the contentious issue of OBC reservations, alleged irregularities in welfare schemes, unfulfilled poll promises and land acquisition protests, and internal differences among party leaders.

 

The government, led by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, is under pressure to honour its electoral pledge of 42 per cent reservation for backward classes in local bodies.

 

This promise, which also included enhanced BC representation in education and government employment, was backed by a caste census conducted in 2024 that pegged the BC population in the state at 56.33 per cent.

 

Based on the survey, the government passed the Telangana Backward Classes (Reservation of Seats in Rural and Urban Local Bodies) Bill, 2025 in March, proposing 42 per cent reservation for BCs, alongside 18 per cent for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and 10 per cent for Scheduled Tribes (STs) — bringing the total to 70 per cent, which surpasses the Supreme Court’s 50 per cent cap on reservations.

 

The immediate hurdle is legal. Gram panchayat elections in Telangana are non-party based and governed by the Telangana Panchayat Raj Act. Any reservations in these polls must comply with the constitutional ceiling.

 

To circumvent this, the Chief Minister has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging the inclusion of the 2025 Reservation Bill in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution to shield it from judicial review.

 

However, in the absence of a Constitutional amendment, the legality of implementing the 42 per cent quota remains questionable.

 

Opposition attack

 

The opposition parties — the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and the BJP — while publicly supporting the reservation bill, have accused Congress of political posturing and delaying the elections.

 

BRS leader KT Rama Rao alleged that the caste census and quota push were part of Congress’ electoral gimmickry and demanded immediate implementation.

 

Facing legal and procedural constraints, Congress is reportedly exploring alternative approaches. These include slightly increasing the BC quota from the current 28 per cent to around 30-31 per cent by adjusting SC/ ST reservations to remain within the 50 per cent ceiling — a strategy that the BRS had adopted in 2018.

 

Also read: Congress campaign to malign ECI has a purpose

 

Simultaneously, the government is planning to roll out new welfare schemes targeted at BCs, such as fee reimbursements for families earning below Rs 3 lakh per annum and establishing Gurukul schools and junior colleges for BC students.

 

Referendum on Congress government

 

The term of the local bodies, including as many as 12,845 gram panchayats, 5,817 mandal parishad territorial constituencies (MPTCs) and 538 zila parishad territorial constituencies (ZPTCs), ended on January 30, 2024 and since then, these local bodies have been under the administration of special officers.

 

One can call it a sort of referendum on the performance of Revanth Reddy and his government. In the last 18 months, the Congress government struggled a lot in implementing its pre-election promises due to severe financial crunch.

 

Despite the constraints, the Revanth Reddy government has made efforts to implement some major welfare schemes, such as free bus travel for women in RTC buses, crop loan waiver to the extent of Rs 21,000 crore, payment of increased amount of Rs 12,000 per acre per year under ‘Rythu Bharosa’ scheme by spending around Rs 18,000 crore, supply of LPG cylinders at Rs 500 for poor women, free electric power for homes below 200 units consumption and payment of Rs 12,000 per year to landless labourers under Indiramma Atmeeya Bharosa, besides Rs 500 bonus on the MRP for paddy.

 

However, there are allegations that ‘Rythu Bharosa’ benefits have not reached all farmers last season. As a result, many leaders face backlash from constituents.

 

There are several other issues that might affect the chances of the Congress in the rural areas, where the local body elections are being held; such as non-release of panchayat raj funds, lack of proper infrastructure facilities and mounting arrears of the civil contractors forcing them to stop works.

 

The Congress, which is known for internal wrangling, is facing the same in Telangana, too.

 

Revanth Reddy is trying to cash in on the positive atmosphere created among the other backward classes (OBCs) due to the successful conduct of caste survey early this year and also the sub-categorisation of Scheduled Castes into three groups.

 

However, there are also concerns that the same caste survey might even prove counterproductive, since Revanth Reddy promised to provide 42 per cent reservation for the OBCs in local bodies.

 

If it is not legally possible to give 42 per cent quota for OBCs in the local body elections, the party is contemplating 42 per cent of the tickets to the OBC candidates.

 

Existential crisis for BRS

 

For the BRS, the panchayat elections are very important to bounce back strongly and regain the ground which it had lost in the assembly and Lok Sabha elections. The party could win only 39 out of 119 assembly seats and drew a blank in the Lok Sabha elections.

 

With BRS president and former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao confining himself to his farmhouse at Erravelli in Siddipet except for occasional appearances in public, the entire burden of running the party has fallen on his son KT Rama Rao and nephew T Harish Rao.

 

The family feud in BRS with KCR’s daughter and MLC K Kavitha revolting against the party has also caused a dent in its image and created confusion in the cadre.

 

BJP on weak wicket

 

The BJP appears to be strong at least on paper – as it won improved its tally in the assembly from one seat to eight seats; and in the Lok Sabha, from four seats to eight seats, compared to the previous terms.

 

But the local body elections are a different ballgame. Except in a few pockets, the party doesn’t have much network in the rural areas.

 

The BJP is focusing on the central government’s direct funding to panchayats and the failures of the Revanth Reddy government. With senior leader N Ramachander Rao taking over as the new BJP chief of Telangana, the party is looking to work out new strategies to be in the reckoning in the local body polls.

 

Newly-elected BJP Telangana unit president N Ramchander Rao said his party would fight the local body elections with all its might and asked the cadre to gear up to the challenge.