HYDERABAD: The Telangana State Election Commission (TSEC) on Tuesday announced elections to seven municipal corporations and 116 municipalities, including the newly formed urban local bodies (ULBs), across Telangana. Polling for 2,996 wards -- including 2,582 wards spread over 116 municipalities and 414 wards in seven municipal corporations -- will be held on February 11 between 7 am and 5 pm and the results will be declared on February 13. A total of 52.43 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the elections.
The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has been excluded from the election process as its term will expire on February 10, 2026.
As per the election schedule announced by TSEC Commissioner I Rani Kumudini, along with CDMA Commissioner T K Sreedevi and Additional DGP (L&O) Mahesh Bhagwat and others, nominations will be accepted from January 28 to January 30, and scrutiny of nominations will be held on January 31. The last date for the withdrawal of candidature is February 3, and the final list of contesting candidates will be published on the same day after 3 pm. The counting of votes will begin at 8 am on February 13, and the results will be declared soon after.
Mayors, municipal chairperson elections on Feb 16
Elected ward members and corporators will be administered the oath of office on February 16, and a special meeting for the election of chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of municipalities, as well as mayors and deputy mayors of corporations, will be held later that afternoon.
With the model code of conduct coming into force with immediate effect, election officials will seize cash in excess of Rs 50,000 being carried by individuals without valid supporting documents. Each candidate is permitted to incur expenditure of up to Rs 1.50 lakh during the campaign.
For the 2,996 ward elections, 8,203 polling stations have been identified. As many as 137 strong rooms have been earmarked for storing election material, and 136 centres have been identified for the counting of votes. There will be live webcasting at all polling stations to monitor the polling process. About 1,379 Returning Officers have been appointed, along with 1,547 Assistant Returning Officers, 9,560 Polling Officers, and 31,428 other polling staff.
After the declaration of results, notice in Form II will be issued by a gazetted officer of the government authorised by the district collector, calling for a special meeting to be convened as per Section 20 of the Telangana Municipalities Act, 2019, and the rules made thereunder, for the conduct of elections to the offices of chairperson and vice-chairperson of municipalities and mayor and deputy mayor of municipal corporations on February 14.
The seven municipal corporations going to the polls include Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation, Nizamabad, Nalgonda, Karimnagar, Mahbubnagar, Mancherial, and Kothagudem.