HYDERABAD: Arrangements are being made for the election of the new Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) on February 11 and a gazette with the names of the new corporators was released by the Telangana State Election Commission. As per reports the GHMC Commissioner will conduct the election at 12.30 pm on February 11.

However, the election will be held on the same day as per the quorum (number of members required). Without quorum, it will be conducted the next day.

Presiding Officer, Hyderabad District Collector Shweta Mohanty has started the exercise and as part of this, she met GHMC Election Officer, GHMC Commissioner Lokesh Kumar at the GHMC headquarters on Monday.

The term of the present Council of GHMC ends on February 10, 2021 and this time the post of the Mayor is reserved for a woman Corporator in the upcoming Council 2021.

According to the election schedule, the directly elected ward members of GHMC will be administered the oath at 11 am on February 11, following which the special meeting for the election of Mayor and Deputy Mayor of GHMC will commence at 12.30 pm.

It also states that the election to the post of Deputy Mayor cannot be held unless the election to the post of Mayor is completed.

If for any reason, the election to the two offices is not held on February 11, it shall be held on February 12, the schedule states.

In the GHMC elections held on December 1, the ruling TRS party won 56 divisions, followed by BJP and MIM which won 48 and 44 divisions, respectively. The Congress party could win only 2 divisions.

The absence of a clear mandate to the TRS party, the single largest in the upcoming Council, will make it difficult for the election of the prestigious mayor candidate this time.

The process of updating the list of ex-officio members, such as MPs, MLAs, MLCs having voting rights in the GHMC Mayor’s election, is currently underway. According to authorities, TRS has 31 ex-officio members, MIM has 10 members, and the BJP and Congress party have two members each.