After a high-decibel and communally charged campaign, voting for 150 municipal constituencies, or wards, of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal...
After a high-decibel and communally charged campaign, voting for 150 municipal constituencies, or wards, of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections began on Tuesday at 7 am.
Over 74 lakh voters will exercise their franchise using ballot papers to elect their representatives, PTI reported. The results will be announced on Friday.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi and Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen are locked in a triangular contest. The saffron party has led an aggressive campaign for the civic body polls to make inroads in wards with a significant Hindu population.
Political observers said the acrimonious campaign is not new to the city’s political landscape, but it still escalated to a new and dangerous level this time. The BJP had brought in several heavyweights, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, party chief JP Nadda and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath, for campaigning.
Even though the polls are for electing a city mayor, the intense campaign witnessed comments on Pakistan, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, surgical strikes, allegations of Rohingya infiltrators and one focused on Hindu-Muslim narrative. “Once a BJP candidate wins the mayor post in these elections, there will be a surgical strike on patha basti [Old City],” Telangana unit chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar had said. “It’s the BJP’s responsibility to...
