GUNTUR: It was in 2005 when the last elections for Guntur Municipal Corporation (GMC) were held. Since then, elections could not be conducted due to pending court cases regarding merger of nearby village panchayats with GMC.
After 15 years, GMC will conduct polls in 57 electoral divisions instead of 52 after the merger of 10 villages with Guntur city. Earlier, representatives from respective villages had moved to court challenging the government’s decision to merge their panchayats into GMC without any consultation with the panchayat councils.
As the process of merger was completed, the government has given a green signal for conducting elections and announced the mayor seat for open category. Of the 57 seats, 30 are reserved for general category including 15 women seats, 10 seats are reserved for BC category including 9 women seats, 16 for SC category including 3 for women and 1 seat for ST category.
Guntur Municipality was made into a corporation in August 1994. TDP candidate Kolli Sarada was elected as the first mayor of GMC in 1995. Congress party candidate Chukka Yesuratnam was elected as mayor in 2000. Later in 2005, the mayor post was held by TDP MP Rayapati Sambasiva Rao’s younger brother’s son Rayapati Mohan Krishna for the first half term and former minister and BJP state president Kanna Lakshminarayana’s son Kanna Nagaraju for the remaining half term.
However, five other civic bodies in Guntur district — municipalities of Narasaraopet, Mangalagiri, Tadepalli, Ponnuru and Bapatla — were facing the same situation. Further, Sarpanch and Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituency (MPTC) elections were also postponed in 31 villages proposed to be merged with these municipalities.
Lingamguntla village former sarpanch Ponnapati Eswar Reddy hailed YSRC government decision to reduce the duration of local bodies election and said the election expenditure would come down due to less number of days for campaign. He also said new candidates may face problems as they will not get enough time for campaign.
TDP Guntur spokesperson Kanaparti Srinivasa Rao alleged that the officials were negligent to complete the process of merger due to political pressure. He said the people are facing many problems due to absence of civic body so it is a good decision to conduct elections.
Guntur municipality was made corporation in 1994
Guntur Municipality was made into a corporation in August 1994. TDP candidate Kolli Sarada was elected as the first mayor of GMC in 1995. Chukka Yesuratnam of Congress was mayor in 2000. In 2005, Rayapati Mohan Krishna and Kanna Nagaraju were mayor for half terms