Municipal Elections: leaders begin lobbying for tickets

RANGAREDDY: With the release of the Gazette notification for the proposed elections of Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) on Tuesday, just two days after the district celebrated the national voters’ day, enrolment of names in the voter list gained momentum. Voters enrolled in various ULBs, began searching their names in the voter list available on websites. Applications online indicates they are preparing to give a mandate.

Whispering began in political circles in the district ever since the release of the gazette notification.

While the mainstream political parties start squaring-off potential candidates and their chances to win, local leaders began lobbying for tickets. However, no fire in the belly is being witnessed among the cadre of various parties so far in the district.

The vicinity of the ULBs already witnessed gram panchayat elections held in December last year. Political circles in all six ULBs in the district are warming up for the biggest civic poll battle scheduled to be held in February.

Six ULBs--Moinabad, Chevella, Ibrahimpatnam, Shadnagar, Amangal and Shankarpally--in the district are going to give a mandate in the proposed municipal elections. These ULBs have a total of 176,023 voters, including 87,478 men and 88,542 women. Considered the biggest among the ULBs, Shadnagar municipality has 28 wards with 53,403 voters. Already, leaders from different parties are holding closed-door meetings and moving close to people in localities to woo support. Moinabad stands second in the list with 26 wards and 32,871 voters followed by Ibrahimpatnam, where 24 wards have been notified having 25,993 voters.

Similarly, Chevella municipality consists of 18 wards with 25,371 voters, while Shankerpally and Amangal have 15 wards each with voter strength of 21,401 and 16,984 respectively.

The district administration identified almost 274 polling stations in the ULBs for the scheduled elections for which polling will be held on February 11. Going by the size and geographical importance, both Shadnagar and Moinabad municipalities appear to play a significant role in giving a strong mandate. Unemployment, growing inflation, poverty and diminishing hope of the state of political and delivery mechanism affairs remain high on the minds of voters. This is likely to divide them on party lines.

“A significant number of people in developing areas such as Rajendranagar and Shamshabad are found complaining of not getting benefit of the government schemes despite repeated pleas to the concerned departments,” blamed Syed Shoukat Ali, a senior citizen based in Rajendranagar.

Growing health issues and limited healthcare facilities make most people unhappy with the de0livery system. Land-related issues and the fragile dispute redressal mechanism is often taking a toll on the health of people in several underdeveloped ULBs in the district.