Hyderabad, Nov 18 : Aspirants of tickets to contest Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) polls made a beeline to the offices of major parties while the election process was formally set in motion on Wednesday.
Ticket aspirants were seen flocking to offices of ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), opposition Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Jana Sena and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).
TRS is likely to retain most of its 99 sitting corporators as it has reportedly finalized the list of candidates for all 150 wards.The list is likely to be announced late Wednesday or Thursday morning.
A day after Telangana State Election Commission announced that the polling for 150-member GHMC will be held on December 1, Chief Minister and TRS president K.Chandrasekhar Rao addressed the party leaders at the party headquarters Telangana Bhavan.
KCR, as Rao is popularly known, exuded confidence that TRS will retain power in GHMC.He urged the party leaders to work hard to ensure landslide majority.
The TRS chief also asked the party leaders to effectively counter the false propaganda being run by BJP leaders, especially with regard to the central funds to the state.
KCR’s meeting with leaders came as the BJP, buoyed by its victory in by-election to Dubbak Assembly seat, is gearing up to go all out to wrest GHMC from the ruling party.
Hectic activity was seen at BJP office as large number of ticket aspirants were meeting the party leaders.State party chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar and other senior leaders were busy finalizing the candidates and the poll strategy.
Sanjay told reporters that the party is setting up a call centre to receive suggestions and proposals from people to incorporate the same in the party’s manifesto.
The BJP leader was confident that the BJP will repeat its Dubbak performance in GHMC polls.
With actor Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena also deciding to enter the fray, the BJP leaders are discussing the possibility of an electoral alliance with that party.
Jana Sena’s Telangana leaders said that they are planning to field candidates in 45-60 divisions.
Hectic activity was also seen at AIMIM headquarters Darussalam.Aspirants were seen calling on the party leaders.The party led by Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi is likely to retain majority of its sitting 44 corporators.
At Gandhi Bhavan, leaders of Congress party were busy discussing the party strategy for the GHMC polls.
Meanwhile, the poll process was formally set in motion on Wednesday with the filing of nominations.On the first day 17 candidates filed nominations.
They included six from TRS, five from Telugu Desam Paty (TDP), three from Congress and two from BJP.
November 20 is the last day for filing of nominations.Scrutiny of nominations will be taken up on November 21 while the last day for withdrawal of nominations is November 22
.
