'Muhabbat ki dukaan' sells

A shift in the Muslim vote helped Congress win many seats, unlike in 2018 when the community had backed BRS. Among the seats that the party bagged was Warangal West, which it had not won in the last four elections.

Rahul Gandhi's pitch of 'Muhabbat ki dukaan' clearly resonated with voters. The community tilted the result in Congress' favour against sitting BRS MLAs in Mahbubnagar, Huzurnagar, Warangal East, Khammam, Bodhan, Ibrahimpatnam, Shadnagar, Ramagundam, Nizamabad Rural and Nalgonda. The minority votes also gave crucial lead to its candidates in several other constituencies.

Muslim voters are in sizeable numbers in 45 of the 119 constituencies. Traditionally, they had backed Congress, but shifted to BRS in 2014 and 2018 assembly elections after the formation of the Telangana state.