Hyderabad: The Telangana State Election Commission on Tuesday announced that the GHMC (Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation) elections will be held here from December 1 to December 4. The notification for the same was released by the TSEC, wherein it called upon registered voters of the wards in the GHMC area to elect its new corporators.
Nominations for the GHMC polls will begin from November 18, and those can be filed before the Returning Officer from 11.00 am to 3:00 pm. The TSEC has also asked officials and also the voters to ensure that COVID-19 precautionary measures will be undertaken. 150 new corporators will be elected to the civic body, which oversees various departmental works in and around Hyderabad.
The GHMC polls have been due from months, but was delayed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. It comes close on the heels of the Dubbak bye-election, which was won by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) narrowly by less than 1500 votes). It will be interesting to see if the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) will be affected by the bye-election result.
As per earlier news, the GHMC polls elections were to take place in the month of January or February. When Siasat.com, asked the spokesperson he didnot answer. The news has come as a huge surprise for Opposition parties including Congress, BJP and MIM. However, many political observers say this sudden announcement is a masterstroke by TRS to prevent people from leaving the party.
In the previous GHMC polls, the TRS won a staggering 99 out of the 150 wards, while its “friendly partner”, the All India Majilis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, won 44 in its bastion, i.e. Hyderabad’s Old City areas. The opposition Congress, Telugu Desam Party and the BJP were left with nothing but scraps.