Andhra Pradesh   

Congress bags nine Mayor posts, 79 Chairperson posts

Special Correspondent

Elections in 3 municipalities and Guntur Corporation postponed

HYDERABAD: The Congress swept the elections to the posts of Mayor and Municipal Chairperson along expected lines but floor-crossing in defiance of party whips and adjournment of the special meetings in four places marred the process on Friday.

Its carefully-planned strategy paid off and the ruling party made a clean sweep of the mayorship of all the nine municipal corporations and won 79 out of 92 municipalities where there was voting. The Congress also succeeded in its design to prevent the main opposition party, the Telugu Desam, from reaching the double-digit figure by restricting its tally to eight.

Although there were no surprises in the final tally, political calculations of the major players went awry in some municipalities due to last-minute betrayals. In Medak, four TRS councillors defected to the Telugu Desam and helped the party claim the chairmanship. In Bhainsa, a breakaway group of the TDP joined the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and bagged both posts of Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson.

Five BJP councillors supported the Congress candidate in Pithapuram and denied the coveted post of Chairperson to its erstwhile ally, the TDP. All the five have been suspended from the BJP.

The BJP (three) and the Congress (7) successfully backed an independent candidate to ensure the defeat of the TDP (14) in Sircilla Municipality (29).

TRS tally

Beyond its two strongholds of Sangareddy and Siddipet, the TRS could not win any municipality though it managed to get a Vice-Chairperson each elected in two more — Medak and Suryapet. The CPI (M) won the lone Khammam Municipality with the backing of the Congress.

Independent councillors sprang a surprise by winning Sircilla and Sadashivpet Municipalities, the latter in a nail-biting finish.

The CPI, the BJP, the BSP and the MIM drew a blank but they had a consolation in getting their nominees elected as Vice-Chairpersons in some civic bodies. In the corporation elections, the Congress wrested Karimnagar where it had won less seats than the Telugu Desam.

Elections could not be held to the Guntur Municipal Corporation due to lack of quorum. Serious internal differences within the Congress also led to postponement of elections in Dhone, Tenali and Jammalamadugu Municipalities.

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