Greater Hyderabad municipal polls on February 2

The much-awaited elections to Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) will be held on February 2.

Telangana state election commissioner Nagi Reddy on Friday announced the schedule for the elections to 150-member body.

The poll process will begin on January 12 with the issue of notification. Nominations can be filed from this day till January 17. The scrutiny of nominations will be taken up on January 18.

The candidates can withdraw their nominations till January 21. The counting of votes will be taken up on February 5.

The state election commission also announced reservations of 106 divisions for various categories. A total of 44 divisions have been reserved for women.

The authorities reserved 25 seats for backward classes (general) and 25 for backward classes (women). Five seats have been set aside for scheduled castes (general) and five for scheduled castes (women). One division each has been reserved for scheduled tribes (general) and scheduled tribes (women). Thus half of the total divisions have been reserved for women.

The poll schedule was announced a day after Hyderabad High Court suspended the government orders, reducing the poll process to just 14 days. The court had also directed the election commission to immediately announce the poll schedule.

Earlier, the main opposition Congress party complained to Governor E. S. L. Narasimhan that ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) was resorting to unethical and illegal methods to win the elections.

Uttam Kumar Reddy, president of Congress party's Telangana unit, had also urged the governor to order removal of all hoarding and publicity material put up by the TRS at public places.

Alleging that the ruling party spent Rs.450 crore on hoardings, he sought an inquiry into source of this money.