HYDERABAD: Banda Karthika Reddy, corporator from Tarnaka ward, became the first woman Mayor of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation.
She was elected unanimously as Mayor of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) while All-India Majlis Ittehadul- e-Muslimeen Corporator from Toli Chowki ward, Jaffer Hussain has been elected unopposed as the Deputy Mayor in the elections held at the Jubilee Hall here on Friday.
Since the main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and other parties did not field a candidate, Presiding Officer and Hyderabad District Collector Naveen Mittal declared Kartika Reddy and Jaffer, elected unopposed, for the posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor respectively.
The election was conducted by Naveen Mittal amidst tight security, while Labour Commissioner D Srinivasulu acted as Observer of the State Election Commission (SEC). Only elected representatives of the corporation were allowed inside the hall for taking oath or allegiance of affirmation.
The elected corporators according to choice took oath in four different languages, Telugu, English, Urdu and Hindi.
Party leaders, friends, relatives, parents, spouses of the elected members including photographers of print media were denied entry inside the Jubilee Hall for witnessing the oath by the corporators.
The Mayor and Deputy Mayor election was unopposed with the Congress and the MIM reaching an understanding over the sharing of power.
The Congress has emerged as the single largest party in the GHMC Council with 52 members while the MIM has 43. The Telugu Desam Party with 45 corporators will be the main opposition followed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with five members.
Meanwhile, some State Congress leaders raised a strong demand for the appointment of a Backward Class leader to the Mayor post but ultimately Karthika Reddy’s candidature was accepted following a directive from the party High Command.
The demand for appointing a BC as Mayor notwithstanding they made the 52 newlyelected corporators to pass a resolution authorising the party High Command to take a decision. Accordingly, Karthika Reddy’s name was cleared by the high command, Congress sources said.
Three nominations were filed in favour of Karthika Reddy and no nominations were filed by the TDP or other opposition parties, making the election unanimous.
Jaffer Hussain Meraj of MIM was elected as the Deputy Mayor without a contest.
The election to the two posts proved a mere formality after Congress and MIM entered into a power-sharing agreement. Under the agreement, Congress would hold the post of Mayor for three years and MIM for two years. The Congress will hold the post for the first two years, while MIM will have its corporator as mayor for the next two. The ruling party will again get the post for the last year. In the last election to the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad (MCH) held in 2002, TDP, that was in power in the state, had won majority of the seats in the then 100-member body in alliance with BJP. The TDP candidate was elected mayor in the direct elections held to the post.