The State Election Commission is making arrangements for polls to the GHMC before the term of the governing body expires on February 10, 2021. Elections are going to be held in time for the first time in almost 50 years. Five elections have been held since 1969, but elections were held after two to 12 years, as and when the Corporation term ended. While the TRS has already initiated steps to take away the throne, the BJP and Congress are making strategies to show their mettle. During the elections held in 2016, the TRS had an alliance with Majlis and won 143 out of 150 divisions, the BJP got 4, Congress got 2 and TDP got one.
Like previous occasions, this time too elections will be held in 150 divisions. Almost 75 lakh people are going to exercise their franchise. Though there was a demand from the opposition parties to increase divisions, officials say it isn’t possible due to time-related constraints. During the previous elections, the candidates who had more than two children were disqualified even on winning.
Hence, amendments were made in the Act providing an opportunity to candidates who have more than two children. About 117 candidates out of 1,333 candidates who contested the 2016 elections lost the opportunity to contest the election as they failed to show their election expenditure. Most of them were independent candidates.
Polling by ballot
Elections will be held by ballot. State Election Commissioner Parthasarathi said that polling would be conducted by ballot paper as per the opinion of majority parties. The elections would be held in Bihar model in wake of the pandemic. The SEC said that although the BJP wanted to hold elections with EVMs as per their party policy, it was not possible in wake of the Corona pandemic.
Strategies of the parties
Already the TRS working president, Municipal Administration Minister KTR had a meeting with the MLAs, MPs under GHMC and asked them to speed up the works in their divisions. He wanted them to take the works particularly the roads, toilets and parks to the people. Minister KTR, Sabitha Indra Reddy, Talasani Srinivas Yadav too visited the flood-hit areas recently to console the affected people. The compensation was also provided without any delay.
However, the BJP and Congress parties have been alleging that many colonies have inundated because of the incompetent rule by the rulers. They are looking to take the sufferings of the people as their weapons in the election campaign. It has to be seen which party the voter would elect.
