Mumbai: Fate of K Chandrasekhar Rao’s party Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) will be decided today as the counting of votes begin in 119 seats of the Telangana Assembly.

Though most exit polls have forecast an easy win for the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, some predicted a keen contest between it and the Congress-led "Praja Katumi", which also comprises the TDP, CPI and the newly formed Telangaja Jana Samithi.





Other parties in the contention are the AIMIM and the BJP.

The AIMIM, which Chandrasekhar Rao called a "friendly party" during the election campaign, meanwhile, said it will stand by the TRS leader.
A party or a coalition needs to win 60 seats in the 119-member Telangana Assembly.

Elaborate security arrangements have been made by the Election Commission at all counting centres.

In its election manifesto, TRS claimed that its development-first agenda would help it retain power in the state.

Telangana Assembly election was held on December 7 after K Chandrasekhar Rao dissolved the government almost eight months before its expiry.

A total of 1,821 candidates contested the Telangana Assembly election 2018. Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi held extensive campaigns across the state to woo voters.

This was the first election to Telangana Assembly after a separate state was carved out from Andhra Pradesh in 2014. Andhra Pradesh was not yet divided when the last assembly election were held.

After division, the Telangana Assembly got 119 seats, 63 of which belonged to the TRS followed by 21 of the Congress and 15 of the TDP.

Here are LIVE updates on counting of votes in Telangana:

09:22 am: TRS leading in 78 seats, Congress in 26, while the BJP is leading in meagre 2 seats.

09:20 am: Care taker Chief Minister of Telangana K Chandrasekhar Rao is leading from Gajwel against Congress' Vanteru Pratap Reddy.

09:15 am: Early trends show TRS racing ahead with leads in 41 seats while the Congress is leading with 22 seats. The BJP is leading in 5 seats.

09:11 am: Senior TRS leader T Harish Rao, a minister in the Caretaker government, leading in Siddipet by 13,040 votes over his nearest TJS rival Bhavani Reddy after the completion of the third round.

In Zaheerabad, TRS nominee Manik Rao was leading by 738 votes after the first round.

08:57 am: Early trends show KCR-led TRS bracing ahead with an advantage in 20 seats. Congress leading in 10 seats while the BJP has managed to open its account with a lead in 1 seat.

08:55 am: "We believe people of Telangana are with us. We have sincerely worked and utilised the opportunity given to us. So I believe voters will bring us back to power, and that too independently. We are very confident about it," Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) MP K Kavitha told news agency ANI.



(Photo: ANI)
(Photo: ANI)



08:30 am: Early trends give TRS a lead in 10 seats while the Congress-led alliance has fallen behind with just 3 seats. Meanwhile, Asaduddin Owasi-led AIMIM and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have not opened their books yet.

08:05 am: In 2014, KCR won the election for the first time on TRS ticket from Gajwel over TDP candidate Vanteru Pratap Redddy with a margin of over 19,000 votes.

08:04 am: Telangana’s caretaker chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is contesting the assembly election from Gajwel seat in Siddipet district. He is the sitting MLA from the constituency.

KCR is facing fight against Congress candidate Vanteru Pratap Reddy and Akula Vijaya of the BJP.

08:00 am: Counting begins across 43 centres in Telangana.

07:55 am: 73.20 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the December 7 Telangana Assembly election.