Karimnagar: Civic bodies gear up for co-option polls despite coronavirus

Karimnagar: The municipal administration of 14 municipalities and two corporations present in the united Karimnagar district are gearing up for conducting municipal co-option elections in their respective municipalities and corporations as per the orders issued by the government, which are pending from the past five months.

The government gave green signal to municipal authorities to conduct municipal co-option elections as per the rules of GO Nos 57 and 58. In fact, these elections were scheduled to be held in the second week of March, but were postponed due to the outbreak of Covid-19.

With the nod given by the government in July first week, the municipal department issued a GO No G1/292/2020 and ordered the municipalities concerned to conduct elections for co-option posts in the respective municipalities and corporations. Following this, the commissioners of respective municipalities issued notification for the elections and invited applications from the interested candidates.

The elections will be held for 66 co-option posts in two corporations and 14 municipalities in the erstwhile Karimnagar district. In each municipality, two seats are reserved for general category and two for minorities and one seat for women in both categories.

In Karimnagar district, the elections will be held for 21 co-option posts, out of which, five posts are present in Karimnagar municipal corporation and four each in Huzurabad, Jammikunta, Kothapally and Choppadandi municipalities.

In Peddapalli district, the elections will be held for 17 co-option posts, out of which, five posts are present in Ramagundam municipal corporation and four each in Peddapalli, Manthani and Sultanabad municipalities.

In Jagtial district, elections will be held for 20 co-option posts, four each in Jagtial, Korutla, Metpally, Raikal and Dharmapuri municipalities and in Rajanna Sircilla district, elections will be held for eight co-option posts, four each in two municipalities - Vemulawada and Sircilla.

A total of 461 members of corporators and councillors had won in the municipal elections that were held in January this year from various parties. Out of which, the ruling TRS grabbed 280 seats, while Congress had won 54 seats, BJP won 50 and 77 had won from other parties and independents.

With increase in the number of corona positive cases, especially from the past few days in the four districts had become a cause of concern for the municipal officials and for the aspiring candidates.

One of the officials of municipal department under the condition of anonymous, said that as the number of corona positive cases are increasing with each day in Karimnagar, Peddapalli, Rajanna Sircilla and Jagtial, it may become difficult for the officials to conduct co-option elections taking all the precautionary steps. Because in the present situation prevailing in four districts, all officials and staff members are mainly focused on preventing the spread of coronavirus in the respective municipalities and corporations.