In Hyderabad, GHMC Elections to be held on Dec 1; ballot boxes to be used instead of EVMs

Days after Dubbak bypoll, Telangana State Election Commissioner Partha Sarathi announced the dates for Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections for 150 wards. The elections will be held on December 1 from 7 am to 6 pm and counting will be held on December 4.

State Election Commissioner stated that nominations for GHMC elections can be filed before returning officer from 18 November and the last date will be 20 November 2020. Scrutiny of nominations will be done on 21 November, last date for withdrawal of candidature is 22 November and the date of publication of a list of contesting candidates is 22 November.

After the announcement of GHMC Elections dates, the Election code comes in to force from Tuesday. However, polling will be held on the ballot paper and not through EVMs. Adults who have completed 18 years of age by January 1, 2020, are eligible to cast their vote. There are about 52.09% male and 47.90% female voters. GHMC has over 74,04,000 voters.

BJP's allegations on State Election Commission

Meanwhile, the BJP has accused State Election Commission of being a "puppet" in the hands of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and TRS government.

BJP chief spokesperson K Krishna Sagar Rao said "Election Commission is an independent institution and is supposed to function without any external Intervention. However, Telangana State Election Commission seems to be running on whims and fancies of KCR and his party TRS".

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The BJP will complain to the Central Election Commission over SEC's questionable style of functioning. The current method of functioning jeopardizes the democratic spirit and integrity of the election process, the party says. After Dubbaka bypoll result, it would be interesting to see if BJP would make a comeback in this GHMC elections. In the last GHMC polls, TRS had won 99 divisions.

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(Image credits: PTI)