The battle for the Bigg Boss 9 Telugu championship has moved to the most critical point already and the public polling on the inaugural day of the grand finale has distinctly pointed out Kalyan Padala as the victor. Kalyan, who was earlier not viewed as a strong competitor, has come up as the leader and has already surpassed his rival Tanuja Puttaswamy by two points according to the preliminary votes.
Kalyan’s stay in the Bigg Boss house has been a gradual yet steady process of change. Although his performance during the first three weeks was quite unnoticed, it did not get much attention, he started to change his game from the fourth week on. Kalyan won the support of the audience step by step by responding to criticism with actions instead of words. Even in later weeks, when he appeared to prioritise Tanuja’s game over his own, he managed to regain momentum and surge ahead in the final stretch.
The top five finalists this season are Kalyan Padala, Tanuja Puttaswamy, Emmanuel, Demon Pawan and Sanjana. As seen in previous seasons, however, the real contest has narrowed down to two names—Kalyan and Tanuja. Voting for the winner is currently underway on Jio Hotstar, and the first-day trends have taken many by surprise.
Contrary to earlier weeks where Tanuja often held a slight edge, the winner voting has completely shifted in Kalyan’s favour. Most online polls show him leading decisively. In one major Telugu poll, Kalyan secured around 60 percent of the votes, while Tanuja trailed far behind with 19 percent. Emmanuel followed with 14 percent, Demon Pawan with 6 percent and Sanjana with just 3 percent.
Another widely tracked online poll reflected a similar pattern. On the first day of voting, Kalyan received 45 percent support, compared to Tanuja’s 27 percent. Emmanuel stood at 12 percent, Demon Pawan at 9 percent and Sanjana at 7 percent. Across YouTube polls and social media platforms, the results remain largely consistent, pointing to a strong early advantage for Kalyan.
Audience sentiment appears to have played a key role in this shift. Kalyan’s persona as a Telugu candidate and his past as a military man made a deep impact on the audience. A lot of fans think that these attributes together with his serene manner of handling conflicts and the skill of keeping relationships alive in the house, worked for him. At the same time, the touching words of Kalyan’s father during his visit to the show really moved the viewers and made his popularity rise even more.
On the other hand, Tanuja has been getting constant appreciation for her strategy and verbal skills but the viewers sensed her performance dropping in the last rounds, Kalyan’s steady growth and the ups and downs of his character development made him to be the winner at the right moment. With history suggesting that strong first-day voting often predicts the eventual winner, Kalyan Padala now appears well on course to lift the Bigg Boss 9 Telugu trophy—if the current trend continues.
