Hyderabad: A 65-year-old woman who was a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate for the Telangana municipal polls died on Friday, February 13, before the counting of votes began in Adilabad.
The incident occurred at Laxettipet municipality where Bhatini Ellamma was contesting from ward number 10. According to reports, Ellmma fell ill on February 12 and died while undergoing treatment at a hospital.
Despite her death, the candidate secured 171 votes and was placed third. Congress candidate Pandem Padma won the councilor election after securing 217 votes and defeating Bharat Rahstra Samithi candidate Kalyani Mettu by three votes.
Out of the 910 eligible votes in ward 10, 695 cast the vote including 20 postal ballots.
Telangana Municipal polls
The Congress won 84 of 123 urban local bodies in Telangana’s municipal elections on Friday, February 13, securing 3,074 seats out of 5,992 wards, according to results released by the State Election Commission.
The Congress secured almost double what the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) managed, with the K Chandrasekhar Rao-led party winning 25 municipalities and 1,562 wards. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came in third with six urban bodies and 672 wards, while the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) picked up one municipality and 140 wards. Independents accounted for 366 seats.
The Congress was also close to winning five out of seven municipal corporations: Mancherial, Ramagundam, Kothagudem, Mahabubnagar and Nalgonda. The BJP was on course to take the other two, Nizamabad and Karimnagar, even as the BRS bagged none.
In the Mancherial Municipal Corporation, the Congress candidates won 44 wards out of 60. BRS got eight. In the industrial hub of Ramagundam, the Congress took 38 seats to BRS’ 13.
BJP close to clinching two municipal corporations
The BJP had reason to celebrate. Karimnagar Municipal Corporation gave them 30 of 66 wards. It was hopeful of securing the support of five rebel candidates who contested as Independents to give it a clear majority. In the Nizamabad Municipal Corporation, the BJP grabbed 28 of the 60 seats, beating both the Congress (17) and AIMIM (14). The hotly contested municipal corporation is up for an interesting clash.
However, for a party that’s struggled to gain traction in Telangana, controlling two municipal corporations marks the BJP’s first mayoral foray into the urban bodies in the state. It is also likely to further enthuse the saffron party to increase its footprint in the southern state.
Addressing the media, BJP leader Bandi Sanjay Kumar expressed joy over his party securing a majority of the wards in the Karimnagar Municipal Corporation and said that soon, a saffron flag will be hoisted over Hyderabad as well.
He slammed his critics who said that the Karimnagar MP only talks about Hindutva and ignores development by claiming that the Modi government has spent Rs 1,500 on Karimnagar’s development while “Congress and BRS parties did not give a single penny.”
The Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM is leading in the Bhainsa municipality in Nirmal district, taking 12 of 26 wards, while also picking up 140 seats scattered across the state, mostly in areas with substantial Muslim populations. To get past the majority mark in Bhainsa, however, the AIMIM will have to stitch a post-poll alliance, which it is likely to do with Independent candidates who won seven seats.
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