GHMC polls: Polling underway amid heavy security, BJP eyes to dethrone TRS

The voting for Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) polls started on Tuesday (December 1) at 7 AM. Elaborate arrangements have been made to conduct the polls in a free and fair manner.

More than 74 lakh voters will exercise their franchise to decide the political fate of 1,122 candidates in 150 divisions in GHMC. The polling started at 7 AM and will conclude at 6 PM at 9,101 polling stations. 

State Election Commissioner C Parthasarthy the polling will take place following COVID-19 regulations. 

A total of 74,67,256 people are eligible to cast their votes, including 38,89,637 men, 35,76,941 women and 678 others.

The Election Commission is using postal ballots instead of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) for GHMC polls.

Voters will have to show their Elector’s Photo Identity Card (EPIC) to exercise their franchise. Those without EPICs will need to show any one of the 18 alternative photo identity card documents to establish their identity. The EC has said that photo voter slips will not be considered as an alternate identification document.

The voters will not be allowed entry inside the polling stations without face mask. All polling stations were sanitised on Monday and the sanitisation process was repeated on Tuesday morning too before the start of polling. 

The high-decibel campaign for GHMC ended on Sunday. The campaign saw leaders of BJP, TRS, AIMIM and other parties launching bitter attacks on each other.

Ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) is eyeing to repeat its 2016 performance in GHMC polls while the BJP has made a determined bid to defeat TRS.

The Congress and the Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) are also contesting the polls on their own.

While TRS, BJP and Congress have fielded their candidates from all the seats, while the AIMIM has fielded candidates in 51 divisions. In 2016, the TRS had won 99 seats and the MIM had ended at second place with 44 seats. The BJP managed to win only four seats.