A Spatial Analysis of Political Participation in Telangana State, India

Abstract

Telangana state is a newly formed state in India. It is the 29th state and was formed on 2nd June, 2014. It was part of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh state. The lack of political participation from the Telangana regions in state of Andhra Pradesh was the major cause for demanding separate state hood for Telangana. The Geopolitical analysis expresses that the heads of the political parties and governing portfolios was only from Rayalaseema and Andhra region. The regional disparities were one of the major causes of discrimination among the regions. It is worthwhile to mention the political dynamics within Telangana and give the scenario of political participation among different regions of Telangana. The study of Zilla Parishad elections (ZP) is a micro-level political participation of people in Telangana as with Panchayat Raj elections in different states of India. Geographical Information System (GIS) was employed to analyse the spatial patterns of Geopolitical participation of people in ZP elections.  Panchayat Raj elections were held 4 times in Telangana, when it was part of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh. The research paper analyse the political dynamics of Panchayat Raj as democracy of ZPTC’s. There are 443 ZPTC’s in Telangana and the three major political parties like Indian National Congress (INC), Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Telangana Rastra Samiti (TRS) plays the significant role in the Geo-politics of Telangana.