Congress MLAs Arekapudi Gandhi and Danam Nagender along with corporators spoke to the press on Monday after meeting the mayor and GHMC commissioner regarding ward delimitation. | Photo credit: SIDDHANT THAKUR
The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) on Monday witnessed vehement protests against the delimitation notification, with cross-party legislators raising their objections to Commissioner RV Karnan.
A team of legislators from the Congress party including Khairatabad MLA Danam Nagender, Serilingampally MLA Arikepudi Gandhi, MLC Balmoor Venkat and corporator Baba Fasiuddin met the GHMC commissioner and objected to the delimitation exercise.
Speaking to the media, Mr. Nagender, while voicing support for the expansion of the GHMC, said that the delimitation exercise was done without consulting the legislators present.
Mr Gandhi and Mr Venkat said there was confusion over the criteria followed in the exercise as there was considerable variation in the number of voters between different constituencies. The officials had fixed the boundaries without knowledge at the ground level, Mr. Gandhi said, adding that the representation submitted by them was looking for an opportunity to adjust them. The team also met Mayor Gadwal Vijayalakshmi.
A delegation from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi led by former minister and legislator Sanathnagar Talasani Srinivas Yadav met the commissioner and submitted their memorandum. The team included legislators Ch. Malla Reddy, Kaleru Venkatesh, Mutha Gopal, Marri Rajashekhar Reddy, Dasoju Sravan and several corporators.
Mr. Srinivas questioned the need for such haste in the expansion of the GHMC and alleged that the delimitation exercise was done on office laptops without consulting the people, political parties or public representatives. There is a lack of transparency in demarcating division boundaries, he said, asserting that the party would strongly raise the issue at Tuesday’s council meeting.
Mr. Sravan cited political motives behind the delimitation exercise, which he called a ploy to weaken the BRS in GHMC, where the Congress party lacked strength. He said the exercise was not carried out in a scientific manner in the spirit of local government and threatened to seek legal help. Mr. Malla Reddy claimed that seven municipalities and three corporations in Medchal constituency were packed into just 16 divisions. Medchal is a semi-rural constituency with scope for major development, he said, referring to the possibility of future population growth.
Independent legislator T. Raja Singh and BJP corporators also visited the GHMC headquarters to raise their objections. The corporators claimed that there was population disparity between the wards and protested against the alleged merger of the erstwhile Turkayamjal municipality with the Charminar zone. Badangpet and Turkayamjal should be merged with LB Nagar zone or created as a separate zone, they demanded.
So far, over 1,300 suggestions and objections have been received regarding the preliminary notification of ward delimitation. The last date for receiving objections is December 17 and a meeting of the council has been called on Tuesday so that the corporators and ex-officio members can comment on the delimitation.
Published – 15 Dec 2025 23:13 IST
