GHMC Polls 2020 Latest Update: The electorates of Hyderabad on Tuesday voted to elect the mayor for the city which is witnessing 3-way fight amongst ruling TRS, AIMIM and the BJP. The polling for 150 wards started at 7 am and ended at 6 pm. About 74.5 lakh voters have been eligible to exercising their franchise utilizing ballot papers to elect their representatives for the GHMC. Over 1100 candidates have been in the fray for 150-ward corporation.
Key players
Among the essential parties vying for the mayor post in the city are KCR’s TRS, Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM, the BJP and the Congress. The essential contest is anticipated to be amongst TRS, AIMIM and BJP. In the run-up to polls, the BJP carried out an aggressive campaign by deploying its leading national leaders like Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath, Devendra Fadnavis, Smriti Irani, Prakash Javadekar, and Tejashvi Surya. On the final day of campaign, Amit Shah visited the city and held a huge roadshow.
Candidates and wards
For the 150-member GHMC, 1,122 candidates from unique political parties have been in the fray. The city of Hyderabad is divided into six zones — Charminar, LB Nagar, Kukatpally, Serilingampally, Secunderabad and Khairatabad. Each zone is additional divided into circles, at present thirty in total. The circles are then subdivided into 150 wards.
How parties fared in 2016
In the final elections, the TRS won 99 wards, AIMIM 44, BJP 4, Congress 2 and TDP 1. In the preceding elections held in 2009, the Congress had bagged 52 wards, TDP 45, AIMIM 43 and the BJP 4. This time, the saffron celebration is hoping to far better its tally as its vote share has gone up in the state. Its self-confidence also went up following winning election in the Dubbak Assembly constituency.
BJP’s rise in Telangana
The BJP has been regularly enhancing its tally in Telangana. In 2018 assembly polls, the BJP had won only 1 seat with just small more than 7 per cent vote share. But just a year later in the Lok Sabha polls, it won 4 parliamentary seats with 19.45 per cent vote share. The BJP had also won the higher-profile Nizamabad seat, exactly where Arvind Dharmapuri defeated KCR’s daughter K Kavitha.
Decline of Congress
In the final assembly polls held in 2018, the Congress, which was in alliance with the TDP, won 19 seats with 28.43 per cent vote share. But in 2019, the Congress fell behind the BJP in terms of seats, and could win just 3 seats with 29.48 per cent vote share. In the existing GHMC polls, the Congress seems to be out of contest with the BJP emerging as challenger to TRS and AIMIM.
Heated campaign
The BJP’s campaign was led by Home Minister Amit Shah, even though Asaduddin Owaisi spearheaded the campaign for AIMIM. The ruling TRS’ campaign was led by its operating president and state Municipal Administration Minister K T Rama Rao whereas Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao addressed some public meetings. The Congress campaign was led by its state president N Uttam Kumar Reddy and operating president A Revanth Reddy. The TDP sought to revive its fortunes highlighting the improvement witnessed in the city for the duration of N Chandrababu Naidu’s regime as chief minister in undivided Andhra Pradesh.
What BJP promised in Hyderabad
Home Minister Amit Shah lately mentioned that Hyderabad has the prospective to turn into an IT hub. He mentioned that the infrastructure improvement has to be performed by the municipal corporation even even though funds are offered by State and Centre. He mentioned that the BJP would make Hyderabad an IT hub. Shah also mentioned that the BJP would absolutely free Hyderabad from the Nawab, Nizam culture and develop a mini-India there. “We want to build Hyderabad into a modern city, free from the shackles of Nizam culture,” he added. The Home Minister also promised that the BJP would move Hyderabad from dynastic politics to democracy, as opposed to KCR and Owaisi who market folks from their households.
The counting of votes will take location on December 4.