Standing Committee Polls: A Triangular Fight

Almost six months after severing ties, the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen and the Congress are gearing up for a direct combat in the elections for the Standing Committee of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation.

The MIM-Congress arrangement was able to maintain its control over the GHMC's Standing Committee for 3 consecutive terms.

While the Congress had 8 members, the MIM was able to win 7 slots in the Standing Committee.

The alliance of the Congress (which had 52 corporators) and the MIM (which had 43 corporators) had reduced the opposition, the Telugu Desam Party (although it had 43 corporators), to a non-entity in the Standing Committee.

However, this time, the political equations look different.

As many as six corporators have quit the Congress to join the YSR Congress. Further, the Congress lost the Borabanda elections to MIM, which reduced the number of its corporators to 45.

The MIM retained the same number of corporators as it had in June 2012, when the Standing Committee elections were held.

While it lost the Langar Houz division due to the disqualification of its corporator, its candidate won from the Borabanda seat. The TDP lost two corporators, with one joining the BJP and the other joining the YSRCP.

Though the Congress and the MIM had started out on a good note - owing to the fact that N Kiran Kumar Reddy had known the president of MIM, Asaduddin Owaisi, and his brother Akbaruddin Owaisi, since they were in college - the warmth gradually petered out because of various issues that cropped up after Reddy assumed office as the CM.

The president of MIM took offence at Reddy's apparent indifference towards communal disturbances that targeted the Muslim minority in the city, and the fact that Muslim youths were being arrested on charges of perpetrating terror-related activites.

With the Congress and the MIM severing ties, the Standing Committee elections are all set to witness a triangular fight.

Analysts say that for the first time, the TDP will be able to win at least two seats in the Standing Committee while the major loss would be incurred by the MIM.

The Standing Committee elections will be held on June 6 from 10am to 3pm, in the GHMC Headquarters at Tank Bund, and the results will also be declared on the same day. (INN)