The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) swept the Bhainsa municipality, which recently witnessed communal clashes, winning 15 out of the 26 wards in the Telangana town.
Even as the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) managed to win several seats in the state's municipal polls, it was the AIMIM and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that got the most number of votes in Bhainsa. The BJP bagged nine seats, while the opposition Congress in the state failed to win a single seat in the municipality.
The TRS had a 'friendly-contest' with the AIMIM in Bhainsa with the BJP accusing the ruling party of fielding candidates who would cut into the votes of the BJP and help the AIMIM.
In a major drawback, the TRS, which had managed to win two wards in the previous election, failed to bag any seats this time.
While the AIMIM won in 82 wards across Telangana, it was the TRS that swept the polls, capturing power in over 100 out of 120 municipalities and seven out of nine municipal corporations.
The TRS won more than 1,500 seats while the Congress only secured 495 seats. The BJP, which claimed it would emerge as the main opposition after winning four Lok Sabha seats last year, won 223 seats. Many Independent candidates, most of whom were TRS rebels, cut into the ruling party's vote share and were elected in 293 wards.
On January 12, a trivial issue took a violent and communal turn when members belonging to two different communities clashed late in the night, leaving several people, including eight police officials, injured in Bhainsa town.
As both communities indulged in stone-pelting and arson, a total of 14 houses were damaged and as many as 24 two-wheelers were fully burnt while one three-wheeler and one car were partially burnt.
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