Hyderabad: The ruling Congress has strengthened its hold over politics in Telangana as it claimed to have won over 60% of gram panchayats that went to polls in three phases up to Wednesday (December 17).The results were yet another shot in the arm for the Congress after it won the December 2023 assembly elections and two assembly bypolls since then, as well as after ten MLAs of the opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) switched over to its side, giving it a firm foothold in the state’s politics after initial apprehensions over whether its government would survive its full term due to its thin majority in the legislature.The gram panchayat elections held earlier this month were the initial stage of the three-tier elections to rural local bodies in the state.In this first stage, polls were held for grassroots-level bodies headed by sarpanches or panchayat chairpersons, who call the shots in villages.The next stage will see elections to territorial councils for mandals within a district and district-level zilla parishads.Voters exercised their franchise for the election of sarpanches and ward members. The elections to these bodies were held on a non-party basis, but the contestants were supported by one or the other party. Party symbols will come into play in the elections to Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies (MPTCs) and Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies (ZPTCs).Chief minister A. Revanth Reddy disclosed to mediapersons on Thursday that the polls were held to 12,702 out of 12,728 gram panchayats in 31 out of 33 districts in the state. Congress-backed sarpanch candidates won in 7,527 panchayats and party rebels won in another 808 panchayats. Together, they won 8,335 panchayats, which constitute 66% of the total number of bodies for which elections were held.In the same breath, he announced that candidates backed by the main opposition BRS and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 4,221 panchayats combined, which account for 33% of the local bodies that went to polls. He elaborated that the BRS alone won 3,511 sarpanch posts and the BJP 710.However, there was nothing to show that the two parties fought the elections in alliance even as Reddy tried to win a political point by claiming that the Congress overcame a stiff challenge from a combined opposition.On the other hand, the BRS alleged the existence of a Congress-BJP tie up, while the saffron party alleged a Congress-BRS connivance.With 166 panchayats in their kitty, the Communist Party of India (CPI), the CPI (Marxist) and others won 1% of seats.Waxing eloquent that the result was the reflection of two years of good governance by the Congress, Reddy also said that the party secured a majority in 87 of the 94 assembly constituencies in the state where elections were held. The BRS enjoyed a majority in six and the BJP in one constituency.The verdict had enhanced the responsibility of the Congress to step up its people-centric programmes many-fold till the next assembly elections in 2029, he said.Reddy deliberately highlighted 2029 as the year of the next elections, even though the term of the Congress government will end in December 2028, on the premise that the country will head for “one nation, one election” in the coming years.The BRS did not deny the Congress’s claim of winning over 60% of panchayats, although senior leader and MLA T. Harish Rao claimed that his party won 40% of bodies and that this spoke of its merit despite being in the opposition.It showed a rejection of the government among rural people and Reddy’s downfall, he said, adding to allege that the people cared little for Reddy even though he campaigned in the polls in violation of the election code.Harish Rao also said the former BRS government headed by party president K. Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) will return to power in two years.BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao said local body polls are generally one-sided in favour of the ruling party. But in Telangana the Congress toiled hard with the chief minister and his ministerial colleagues going all out in the campaign just to win around 50% of seats, he said.BJP state president N. Ramchander Rao said the victory of his party’s candidates laid the foundation for its robust growth in the state. The saffron party could not contest in all panchayats but saw good results wherever it was in fray, he said. The results were a fitting reply to those who claimed that the BJP was confined to urban pockets of the state, he added.The Congress was in expansion mode in the current elections as it secured a majority in at least 20 more assembly constituencies as compared to the number of seats it won in the assembly elections held two years ago.Over 70% of panchayats falling within the constituencies represented by Reddy and his cabinet colleagues returned Congress-backed candidates.The BRS enjoyed a majority in nine assembly constituencies, but the number is likely to drop, with many of its victorious candidates, including rebels, inclined to go with the Congress.Barring Hyderabad district, where an urban local body – the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation – is in total control of the civic administration of the metropolis, and the Medchal-Malkajgiri district that covers the urban space surrounding Hyderabad, elections took place for all rural local bodies in the 31 remaining districts.The Congress held complete sway in 50 assembly constituencies in the erstwhile districts of Khammam, Nalgonda, Mahabubnagar, Rangareddy and Nizamabad, with its candidates winning almost all panchayats here.The BRS won the majority of panchayats in the Sircilla and Siddipet assembly constituencies represented by Rama Rao and Harish Rao respectively. But the party ceded its position to the Congress in some constituencies represented by its MLAs, like P. Sabitha Indra Reddy (Maheshwaram), V. Prashant Reddy (Balkonda) and K. Sanjay (Korutla).Revanth Reddy claimed that the Congress wrested panchayats in the Gajwel constituency represented by former chief minister KCR, with party rebels who won the polls returning to its fold.The BJP won the majority in a lone constituency – Mudhole – in the erstwhile Adilabad district. The low figure may appear surprising considering that its tally went up from about 100 panchayats when the last elections were held in 2019 to over 700 now.The BJP won eight of the 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana in the elections held last year as well as eight assembly seats the previous year (2023). Its vote share also went up by 21% between the two elections.The elections to rural local bodies were held nearly two years after their term had expired. In the meantime, some Rs 3,000 crore in Fifteenth Finance Commission funds were held back by the Union government as the panchayats or parishads did not have elected bodies.The Congress delayed the conduct of the polls to implement its election promise of 42% reservation for backward classes (BCs) in local bodies.After conducting a year-long household survey for the enumeration of the BC population, the government enacted legislation to hike the BC reservation up to 42%, but the president did not give her assent, presumably because the quota exceeds the 50% cap fixed by the Supreme Court.The state government tried in vain to get court clearance for the 42% quota and finally went ahead with the polls with reservation restricted to 29% for BCs, including 4% for Muslims, as in the past.The court had even set a deadline for the state to complete the polls. Revanth Reddy, however, was silent on the dates for the next stage of elections – to MPTCs and ZPTCs – saying it will be decided by his cabinet.