Come 2021, Hyderabad will have woman mayor

Hyderabad: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation will have its first woman mayor after the bifurcation of the state in the next term.

This was the outcome of the draw of lots carried out by the municipal authorities on Sunday. As per the lottery system taken up for providing 50 per cent reservation to women in the ULBs, the GHMC mayor post will go to women.

Though the term of the GHMC is yet to be completed, the government took state as a unit and finalised the reservations for mayor and chairperson posts in corporations and municipalities, respectively.

A majority of the urban local bodies are going for polls and hence the state was taken as a unit for declaring reservations, said a senior official in the CDMA.

The term of the GHMC is till February 10, 2021, but clarity has come on who would be holding the post of the mayor a year before.

The GHMC has 150 divisions and presently Bonthu Rammohan is the mayor. Now, the GHMC is reserved for the BCs but from the next term, the corporation will be reserved for women.

This lottery-based reservation system would be applicable for the next two terms, said the official.

According to the officials, apart from having a woman mayor, the GHMC would be having half of the divisions reserved for women by virtue of the decision of the government to have 50 per cent quota for women in the local bodies.

It may be mentioned here that in the past when Telangana was part of united Andhra Pradesh, the Municipal Corporation had two women mayors. Sarojini Pulla Reddy and later Banda Kartheeka Reddy.