Minister of State for Home Bandi Sanjay Kumar with the newly elected mayor of Karimnagar Kolagani Srinivas in Karimnagar on Monday. | Photo credit: ARRANGEMENT
The BJP strengthened its grip on Karimnagar, wresting control of the coveted Karimnagar Municipal Corporation (MCK) from the BRS, dashing the ruling Congress’ hopes of winning the key civic body in north Telangana with the support of the AIMIM and independents.
After winning 30 divisions of the 66-member MCK, the BJP won both the post of mayor and deputy mayor in the indirect elections in Karimnagar on Monday.
All nine newly elected BRS corporators abstained from voting, which began shortly after the afternoon oath-taking ceremony.
Newly elected BJP corporators — Kolagani Srinivas and Y. Sunil Rao — have been elected mayor and deputy mayor of MCK. Mr. Rao had earlier served as Mayor of Karimnagar in the previous council during the BRS regime. He switched to BJP last year.
The BJP mayoral candidate got 34 votes while the Congress candidate got 21 votes. Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay voted in favor of the BJP mayoral candidate as an ex-officio member. Besides the 14 Congress members, three AIMIM members and four independents voted for the Congress candidate. BRS stayed away from the elections.
The saffron party’s victory in the MCK by-elections kicked off celebrations by the party cadre in Karimnagar. Mr. Sanjay attended the celebrations at Tower Circle in the city.
Published – 16 Feb 2026 21:29 IST