How Muslim voters can be game changers in Telangana polls

New Delhi, Oct 8: As Telangana inches closer to state elections, the ruling TRS (Telangana Rashtra Samithi) party and the main opposition, Congress and its allies will hope to get Muslim votes to capture power. The fight between them has intensified where the minority community might play a crucial role in deciding the winner of the forthcoming state elections.

As per a report in Mint, 50 of the 119 assembly constituencies have more than 10 percent representation of Muslim voters which puts the spotlight back on the Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).

According to Political analysts AIMIM, which is on "friendly" terms with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), will help the latter win some seats through tactical posturing, thereby weaning away crucial Muslim votes away from the Congress. If that happens, then it will mark a generational shift of minority votes from the Congress.

It can be now clearly seen that both Congress and the TRS have been trying to woo Muslim voters who form around 12.5 percent of the state's population.

The TRS camp is confident that they will get the required support from the minority voters due to the goodwill they created with schemes like Shaadi Mubarak which offers financial assistance to Muslim brides. The Congress, on the other hand, is looking forward to getting back their loyal vote bank even as they team up with the TDP, CPI and newly-launched Jana Samithi party.

The Congress will also expect to get a major chunk of Backward Classes (BC) votes, as TDP has time and again claimed the support of this section.

Recalling the 2014 elections, the TRS had won 63 seats in the assembly polls that happened simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections. Congress had clinched 21 seats while TDP had settled for 15 seats in the 119-member assembly. The figures suggests that Owaisi's party enjoys significant influence beyond the seven seats it had won. TRS however has 90 Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) following defections.

Telangana will head for assembly polls along with Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram and Rajasthan later this year. The state will head to polls on December 7. Counting will happen in all states on December 11.

K Chandrashekhar Rao resigned nine months ahead of the tenure of his TRS government in Telangana over a range of issues. The election in Telangana is expected to be held along with four other states including BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan later this year.

Whom the voter favours will be known only after the results but there is clarity on who will occupy the seat of power.