Tepid turnout in GHMC poll

Hyderabad: Barring stray incidents of clashes among the supporters of contesting candidates in some divisions, the

elections to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) passed off peacefully on Tuesday. The year 2020 will go down in the poll history of GHMC as the lowest polling percentage recorded ever. The polling is said to be less than 43 per cent.

In 2002, the polling percentage was around 41 per cent and during the later elections the poll percentage showed increase and by 2016 it went up to 45 per cent. The low turnout has now become a cause of worry for all political parties. The interesting aspect that was noticed was that some kind of polarisation of votes was noticed in certain parts of the city.

The voter turnout was fairly impressive in Koti and other such areas where the north Indian population particularly where communities like Marwadis was more and in the Old City areas where the AIMIM has considerable hold.

The voting started on a dull note and the same trend continued till the last hour. Polling booths looked empty from afternoon to the end of the polling day at 6 pm.

TRS working president KT Rama Rao and his wife Shailima, Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy, BJP senior leader Dr K Laxman, Congress leader Vijayashanthi and Telugu film actors Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna, Amala and Rajashekhar couple and Vijay Devarakonda were among the leaders and celebrities who exercised their franchise in the city. State Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, DGP Mahendar Reddy and other senior officials and prominent personalities also stood in the line and cast their vote.

According to CMO, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao spent the day analysing the polling pattern and enquired about the winning prospects of the party candidates with MLAs and senior leaders.

TRS working president KT Rama Rao held a meeting with the city leaders to ascertain the TRS performance in the elections. The party leaders are confident that the low turnout would help the TRS to win a greater number of wards. The opposition which felt disappointed over the low turnout however is putting up a brave face and claims that they would win a considerable number of wards.

The opposition BJP, which was expecting huge political gains from the GHMC elections like in the recently held Dubbaka assembly by-election, is upset over the low turnout in the Greater Hyderabad elections.

The Telangana Congress is expecting some miracles in the elections by winning more number of wards in the Malkajgiri Parliamentary constituency represented by TPCC working president A Revanth Reddy. Minister for Transport Puvvada Ajay Kumar allegedly violated the poll code by visiting a polling booth.

BJP supporters stopped his vehicle and alleged that he was trying to distribute money to voters. Timely intervention by the police saved the situation from taking an ugly turn.