GHMC arithmetic puts TRS at advantage

Hyderabad: The new GHMC governing council, which would become functional in February, is going to witness a new style of functioning. While it is certain that the TRS will have its own mayor and deputy mayor without alliance with AIMIM, the BJP will play the role of a strong opposition while the AIMIM is likely to extend issue-based support to the TRS.

All the three major political parties have been holding a series of meetings since morning to discuss and analyse the poll results and strategies they should adopt when the new governing council is formed.

TRS working president KT Rama Rao has convened a meeting of all the newly-elected corporators and city MLAs at Telangana Bhavan on Sunday to take stock of the situation. Many believe that since the TRS could not win more than 55 wards it will have to go in for understanding with AIMIM. But the general mood in both the TRS and AIMIM is different. They feel that it would be politically advantageous for both the TRS and AIMIM if they do not have any understanding. This will help the AIMIM to press for their demands in the governing council but at the same time can extend support to the TRS-led GHMC on issues. 

But then the question is how will TRS elect mayor and deputy mayor without the support of AIMIM. With 150 elected members and 45 ex-officio members, the total strength of the GHMC council is 195. For a party to win with a simple majority, it needs 98 votes. But the TRS does not have that much strength even if the ex-officio votes of 31 are added. Hence, one of the options is that AIMIM may decide to abstain from voting.

According to the GHMC rules, to elect a mayor, the candidate should get 50 per cent of the votes of members present and voted. AIMIM has won in 44 wards and has 10 ex-officio members. If all the 54 abstain then the total number of the council would come down to 141. This would mean that the TRS will require about 71 votes to elect its mayor. The TRS will then be having 55 corporators plus 31 ex-officio members taking their total to 86 and it can comfortably elect its own mayor and deputy mayor.