Two women corporators from Telangana Rashtra Samithi, Vijayalakshmi R. Gadwal from Banjara Hills and Mothe Srilatha from Tarnaka, have effortlessly sashayed into historical annals, when they bagged the twin posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor respecitvely in the indirect elections conducted for the GHMC Council on Thursday.
They defeated BJP's candidates Veerannagari Radha from RK Puram and Shankar Yadav from Begum Bazar wards respectively.
This is said to be the first time both the posts have been simultaneously held by women candidates.
The much speculated elections have been declared in favour of TRS with a huge margin, as the MIM had decided in the last minute not to field its own candidates.
Hyderabad district collector and Presiding Officer Swetha Mohanty kicked off the session at about 11 a.m., by administering oath to the 149 newly elected corporators, in the presence of election observer Sandeep Sultania.
After an hour’s break, the session was reconvened and election was taken up around 12.30 p.m., as there was required quorum. Former Deputy Mayor Baba Fasiuddin proposed the name of Ms.Vijayalakshmi, which was seconded by Ravula Seshagiri, the TRS member from Gajularamaram.
Her opponent Ms.Radha’s name was proposed by Mylardevpally corporator T.Srinivas Reddy, and seconded by his colleague from Himayatnagar Rajyalakshmi. By show of hands, it was apparent that Ms.Vijayalakshmi stood victorious.
Similar procedure was then replicated for the Deputy Mayor, with Macha Bolarum corporator Raj Jitendranath proposing Ms.Srilatha’s name and Kukatpally corporator Jupally Satyanarayana seconding her. Mr.Shankar Yadav’s name was proposed by Jambagh corporator Rakesh Jaiswal and seconded by Adikmet corporator Suneetha.
The whole election process was completed within 20 minutes before 1 p.m. Later, certificates were presented to the winning candidates by Ms.Mohanty.
Except for two Congress members who walked out, the remaining147 corporators were present for the voting. Thirty-three ex-officio members who attended the voting included three of the five Rajya Sabha members, 10 MLCs out of 15, and 20 MLAs out of 21.
Notable by their absence were Union Minister of State for Home G.Kishan Reddy, MPs Asaduddin Owaisi and D.Srinivas, minister Satyavathi Rathod and legislator Akbaruddin Owaisi.
