7 civic polls on April 30, results to be out May 3

The Telangana State Election Commission (TSEC) issued notification on Thursday for polls to two municipal corporations and five municipalities. The polling will be held on April 30 and the counting on May 3.

Up for polls are the municipal corporations of Greater Warangal and Khammam as also the municipalities of Atchampet, Siddipet, Nakrekal, Jadcherla and Kothur. This apart, the election for the Lingojiguda division under GHMC limits will also be held. The seat fell vacant due to the death of BJP corporator soon after the GHMC polls in December 2020.

The nomination process will start on Friday and the last day of nominations is April 18. The scrutiny of nominations will take place on April 19 and the last date of withdrawal is April 22.

The notification came as a surprise, just like the GHMC election notification in November 2020.

While the opposition parties were expecting these polls in May after Nagarjunasagar assembly bypoll result on May 2, the ruling TRS has sprung a surprise by recommending the holding of the elections even before the result of Nagarjunasagar bypoll is out.

These elections will mark the end of the elections in Telangana from village-level to nationallevel and there will, in normal course, be no other election in Telangana until the December 2023 assembly polls.

Hence, these elections will help all parties to gauge the pulse of the voters. Elections will be held for 248 divisions and wards in the above corporations and municipalities.

While GWMC has 66 divisions, KMC has 60 divisions. There are 20 wards in Atchampet, 43 in Siddipet, 20 in Nakrekal, 27 in Jadcherla and

12 in Kothur municipalities. The elections will be held through ballot papers. As many as 11,26,221 voters — including

5,53,862 male and 5,72,121 female — will be entitled to

exercise their franchise.