December 5, 2020 10:53:24 pm
Hyderabad: Acting President of TRS and Minister KT Rama Rao campaign ahead of GHMC elections in Musharabad (Archive / PTI)
Even as TRS maintained its position as the largest party in the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections, the KCR-led party may need the support of others to retain the position of mayor.
In the results declared on Friday, the TRS ruling witnessed a drop in its performance, with BJP evicting the party than half the seats it had held since 2016. While the BJP count increased from four in 2016 to 48, the TRS numbers dropped from 99 to 55.
With only one result in the 150-member GHMC still pending following the recount order, the TRS will finish well below the at least 65 seat mark for the mayoral seat.
Explained | What’s at stake for TRS and BJP?
The party may need external support, in addition to its force of ex-officio members, who can participate in the vote. The Lok Sabha MPs and MLA who have their vote in the city are ex-officio members of the GHMC. In addition to this, the MLCs and Rajya Sabha members, who have their vote in the city, have to give the option of electing the GHMC in order to vote in the mayoral vote. PTI reported citing sources.
According to the PTI, the number of ex officio members as of Saturday is 49, although clarity may emerge in this regard when the call for the mayoral election is issued. Of the 49, the strength of TRS is 31. The number of ex-officio members per party is AIMIM-10, Congress-1 and BJP-3, PTI reported.
TRS can also advance with the support of AIMIM, but the party is aware of this alliance. During the campaign for the ballot box, KT Rama Rao, Minister of Municipal Administration and son of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, had refutes accusations of a “secret alliance” between TRS and AIMIM by the Minister of the Interior, Amit Shah. Rao had said then that there is no “question of a tie” since the party was contesting all 150 districts at the polls.
BJP celebrates the rise of saffron
While the TRS is now reviewing its poll performance, the BJP is celebrating the “saffron rise” in the southern state. BJP leaders said the party’s performance “made it ambiguously clear that it is emerging as the alternative force” in Telangana, which they said was its agenda for these elections. The party sees Telangana as one of the states where it has the best chance after Karnataka.
Thank you Hyderabad for the increase in saffron in GHMC surveys! pic.twitter.com/wMpbkidqT9
– BJP (@ BJP4India) December 5, 2020
BJP Telangana chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar said: “The BJP’s victory in the Dubbaka by-elections on November 10 was the defeat of T Harish Rao, nephew of Prime Minister K Chandrashekar Rao. GHMC polls have given a major defeat to KT Rama Rao, the son of CM (led the TRS campaign).
The results have also been bittersweet for AIMIM. While the party retained its 44-seat tally, while contesting 51 seats instead of 60 last time, it won fewer seats than the BJP. The GHMC polls were a prestigious battle for AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on his own turf, and the BJP who carried out a high-level campaign by deploying their big guns had primarily targeted him. Among the 48 seats won by the BJP, six were in the Muslim-dominated Charminar division.
Newly elected GHMC ward members would have to wait until February to be sworn in, as the current body’s term ends on February 10.
(PTI inputs)
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