As the people of Telangana prepared to cast their votes, several leaders of the major parties indulged in special prayers before heading to the polling booths. On Thursday, November 30, Telangana Congress chief Revanth Reddy performed Gau Pooja (cow worship) at his residence with family members in Kodangal of Mahabubnagar district. Revanth is contesting from both the Kondangal and Kamareddy constituencies. 

On Wednesday, Revanth Reddy, All India Congress Committee (AICC) Telangana-incharge Manikrao Thakre, and senior Congress leader Mallu Ravi offered prayers to the god Venkateswara in the Birla mandir and placed Congress guarantee cards before the deity. Later the leaders also offered prayers at Nampally Dargah. 

Ever since the formation of the Telangana state in 2014, the Congress’ presence has been on the decline. However with this election, the Congress has managed to emerge as the main rival of the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) party which has been in power since 2014. 

Revanth Reddy was a student leader in the ABVP which is affiliated to the BJP. He later joined TDP and began his political career. He joined Congress in 2017 and was elected as Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) chief in 2021. 

At 9.30 am, two and a half hours into polling, Telangana recorded a voter turnout of 8.38% . Adilabad district has registered the highest polling so far, at 13.5%. The lowest voter turnout is currently in Hyderabad, at 4.97%. Assembly elections are being conducted for 119 constituencies and the results are expected on December 3.

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