It once again brought to the fore the lack of confidence and trust among the citizens of the city in the present political set-up.
The average percentage of polling in the GHMC elections on Tuesday, the first to be held after the formation of a separate Telangana State, once again amply brought to the fore the lack of confidence and trust among the citizens of the city in the present political set-up, but it is still advantage TRS.
Contrary to all expectations that the percentage of polling this time would surpass the previous 43% polling recorded in the 2009 GHMC elections before the bifurcation of the then united Andhra Pradesh, it was only 45%, despite the high-decibel campaigning by all the political parties.
The polling was by and large peaceful until the end of the day, but the situation in the sensitive Old City suddenly flared up with the MIM supporters beating up Congress leaders and supporters near the Mir Chowk police station forcing the police to resort to a lathi-charge to bring the situation under control.
The polling commenced at 7 am in all the 7,804 polling booths amidst unprecedented security arrangements made by the Hyderabad and Cyberabad police by deploying as many as 45,000 police personnel including Rapid Action Force and CRPF personnel. All the polling stations were fitted with CCTV cameras to monitor the polling process.
In order to enable the citizens to vote in the elections to one of the biggest municipal corporations in the country, the State government had declared a holiday for all government offices, educational institutions, industrial units and business establishments. Besides that, the State administration, concerned officials and even all the political parties went all out to ensure a high percentage of voting this time.
Since the ruling TRS, more than any other party, has a bigger stake in the elections as it has entered the prestigious poll battle for the first time after the formation of the State and with a firm determination to capture power in the GHMC by not only winning a majority of the 150 divisions but also capturing the posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor, it went a step ahead by taking full-page advertisements on the front pages of all the major newspapers being published from the twin cities with an appeal to vote for the pink Party.
However the denizens, especially the educated youth and IT professionals, seemed to have not been bowled over by these appeals, evident from the manner in which the polling started. The percentage of polling was as low as 21% till 12 noon, five hours after the commencement of polling. What was surprising was the reluctance on the part of the IT professionals numbering about 4 lakh in the IT corridor of Cyberabad to go to the polling stations to vote.
Surprisingly the residents of the posh Banjara Hills and Jubilee Hills seemed more eager to cast their votes this time, as the percentage recorded in these areas was nearly 30 to 32 by noon. In contrast, in the Old City, which has 34 of the 150 GHMC divisions, the percentage was only 17 by noon.
But there was a sudden spurt in voting later in the afternoon with leaders, film stars and officials besides TV channels reminding the voters to exercise their franchise as responsible citizens. Even Governor E S L Narasimhan, who along with his wife Vimala exercised his vote at the polling booth in the Administrative Staff College of India, reminded the citizens that it was essential for them to vote as it gave them the right to question the Corporators if they failed to look into the citizens' civic needs. Thus the eventual polling percentage hit 45% by 5 pm, the closing time for voting.