The ruling party sweeps the panchayat elections!

The ruling Congress party put up a dominant performance in the panchayat elections, clearly outpacing its rivals across all three phases. Of the 12,719 gram panchayats contested statewide, Congress emerged on top by winning 7,093 seats, securing the leading position overall. The BRS managed to assert its presence with victories in 3,488 seats, while the BJP finished with 699 seats. Independents won 1,264 seats, followed by CPI with 79 seats, CPI(M) with 75 seats, and others accounting for 22 seats.

Continuing its winning momentum from the first two phases, Congress also performed strongly in the third phase held on Wednesday, winning over half the seats by securing victory in 2,301 panchayats. The BRS captured more than a quarter of the seats in this phase with 1,145 wins, while the BJP once again crossed the 200-seat mark, similar to its performance in the earlier phases. Overall, after Congress and BRS, independents and others together accounted for a significant share, with independents alone winning around 10 percent of the total seats.

Notably, more than 80 percent of the independents are Congress rebels. During candidate selection, ministers and Congress MLAs played a key role, but in several villages candidates were chosen against the wishes of local workers. This led many Congress leaders to contest as rebels and defeat official party nominees. Party sources said these winners are expected to return to the Congress fold by the time of the oath-taking ceremony. When these rebel-backed independent victories are included, Congress is projected to control nearly 64 percent of the panchayats. Across all three phases combined, BRS secured 27.4 percent of sarpanch posts, while the BJP accounted for 5.5 percent.