HYDERABAD: CONTRARY to the indications that the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Cor porat ion (GHMC) elections would be held later this month or in early December, the Telangana government has been contemplating having them after Sankranti (Pongal). This means the polls are likely only after January 15 next year. According to the GHMC Act, the polling process should be completed three months before the term of the current council ends, which is on February 10, 2021. This provision in the Act gives enough leeway for the government to go in for the polls after Pongal, as it is now preoccupied with the restoration of roads and other infrastructure of Hyderabad, which had been battered out of shape by the torrential rains in October.
According to highly placed sources, the government, in due course, would communicate to the State Election Commission (SEC) the likely dates for the issue of the poll notification. The main reason for the government to defer the election till after Pongal is that it does not want the GHMC staff to be diverted from the restoration work for poll duties. This apart, once the notification is issued, the GHMC cannot go ahead with any new work while restoring the damaged infrastructure, as it would be a violation of the model code of conduct. In 2016, the GHMC elections were held on February 2.
The notification was issued on January 12 which was also when candidates started to file their nominations. The SEC had already gone on record and said it is ready to hold the elections any time after November 13. The sources further said that the government’s priority was now to bring the city back on its tracks and that the GHMC staff are neck-deep in restoration work. It wants to advise the SEC to issue the poll notification after Pongal as by then the staff would have completed the work.
What GHMC Act says
According to the GHMC Act, the polling process should be completed three months before the term of the current council ends, which is on February 10, 2021. This gives enough leeway for the govt to go in for the polls after Pongal, as it is now busy with the restoration of roads and infrastructure which got battered in the recent rains