Deck are cleared for the election of new Mayor of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) on Thursday. Though a formality, the election will be conducted in the Council Hall of GHMC Headquarters at Tank Bund, Hyderabad.
Technically speaking, a total of 217 members will elect the Mayor and Deputy Mayor. Of them 150 are the recently elected corporators and the rest are ex-officio members.
All MPs, MLAs and MLCs, who are registered voters in GHMC limits have been made eligible for voting for the post of Mayor and Deputy Mayor. Hyderabad district collector Rahul Bojja is appointed is the presiding officer for the polls.
An ordinance has been issued last week facilitating all the law makers of Assembly, Council and Parliament , who are voters here, to vote in the GHMC mayor election, thinking that TRS may need them in case the party falls short of majority. The ordinance has made 4 Lok Sabha members, 10 Rajya Sabha members, 24 MLAs and 29 MLCs members of GHMC.
The four Lok Sabha members are Bandaru Dattatraya (BJP – Secunderabad), Asaduddin Owaisi (MIM – Hyderabad), Kotha Prabhakar Reddy (TRS – Medak) and Ch Malla Reddy (TDP – Malkajgiri). The 10 Rajya Sabha members include KVP Ramachandra Rao, V Hanumantha Rao, Rapolu Ananda Bhaskar, P Govardhan Reddy, Jairam Ramesh, M A Khan and K. Chiranjeevi (all Congress), CM Ramesh and Garikapati Mohan Rao (both TDP) and K Keshava Rao (TRS).
The 24 MLAs include Talasani Srinivas Yadav, T. Padma Rao, Akbaruddin Owaisi, Mumtaz Ahmed Khan, Md Mauzam Khan, Jaffer Hussain Meraj, Kausar Mohiuddin, Ahmed Bin Balala, Syed Ahmed Pasha Qadri, Dr. K Laxman, G Kishan Reddy, Chintala Ramchandra Reddy, D Raja Singh, NVSS Prabhakar, Maganti Gopinath, Vivekanand Reddy, R Krishnaiah, Prakash Goud, Gandhi, T Padma Rao, Mahipal Reddy and Kanaka Reddy.
Given this brute majority it acquired by winning 99 seats in the council and many more ex-officio members, the election of mayor and deputy mayor has become a mere formality.
