Huge turnout in municipalities abutting GHMC

Hyderabad: Voters in the poll-bound municipalities in the periphery of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) broke the myth that they stay away from casting their votes in the elections. Unlike in the last Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, voters in Adibhatla, Shankarpally and Peerzadiguda and Ghatkesar municipalities came out of their homes in a huge and exercised their franchise in the urban local body elections held on Wednesday.

According to the tentative figures, Adibhatla municipality registered the highest voter turnout of more than 90 per cent, followed by Tellapur (83.10 per cent), Shamshabad (79.13), Narsingi (75.61), Pedda Amberpet (75.34), Shankarpally (73.78) and Ghatkesar registered 70.19 per cent turnout. The other municipalities -Medchal (67.90), Bollaram (66.86), Kompally (66.04), Boduppal (64.67), Peerzadiguda (64.31), Badangpet (63.87), Nagaram (61.31), Dammaiguda (61.04), Bandlaguda Jagir (56.06), Meerpet (51.78), Jawaharnagar (50.02), Jalpally (46.91), and in Manikonda, 41.03 per cent of the people voted.

In the 2018 assembly and recently held Lok Sabha elections, the voter turnout did not cross 50 per cent in these municipal segments. Leaders said that the allurements like money and liquor offered by the contestants was one of the main reasons for big turnout in many urban bodies in the elections. The local TRS MLAs also took the elections as a big challenge and mobilised voters to the polling booths through appeasement on the entire polling day, leaders said that the BJP and Congress also lured the voters with money.

In some wards, voters were offered Rs 5,000 to Rs 7,000 per person to vote in favour of the parties in the elections. Locals claimed they took part in voting to elect a right candidate to address the long pending issues mainly drainage, drinking water, proper road network and cleanliness of the wards.