BRS triumphs in prestigious CESS polls in Rajanna Sircilla dt

SIRCILLA: Ever since the Telangana High Court directed the State Government to hold the CESS (Co-Operative Electric Supply Society) elections in Sircilla, the BJP and the BRS have been vying with each other to win a majority of director positions in the CESS.

The CESS has a total of 15 director posts across the Rajanna Siricilla district, covering Siricilla and Vemulawada constituencies and an electorate of 87,130. On the December 24, as many as 73,189 voters exercised their votes.

As many as 75 candidates were in the fray belonging to different political parties. Although the parties do not contest directly, they present a panel that they support. The BRS, the BJP, the Congress and the BSP had announced their candidates along with some independents trying their luck. The election for a co-operative society saw involvement of the BJP's Central leadership and also had the luster of a by-election with candidates making the most of the elections and jumping parties too.

Sircilla is the Assembly constituency represented by Kalvakuntla Taraka Ramarao, Minister for IT and Industries and BRS Working President, making this election a talking point in the local media and social media.

Members of Parliament of the BJP such as Bandi Sanjay and Arvind Dharmapuri claimed that they would win the CESS and later beat the BRS Working President in the upcoming General Election in 2023.

Upsetting their plans, the BRS won 14/15 seats. Other than Vemulawada rural where the BJP candidate won by a meagre 7 votes, the BJP or the Congress hardly put up any fight.

Bandi Sanjay's padayatra,and his whirlwind tour of the constituency proved futile as people strongly believed that the MP did nothing for the constituency in his capacity.

Siricilla once sadly notorious for weaver suicides and dubbed "Uri"cilla (Uri in Telugu means suicide), is now truly a "Siri"cilla (Siri meaning fortune).

As for the BJP that saw some hope in the 2019 parliament elections and made premature statements, its dreams were shattered.

The fiercely contested elections to this innocuous body was meticulously handled by all parties, as the outcome would have a bearing on the upcoming elections.

Hectic parleys with all mandal level and constituency-level leaders preceded the polls.