Congress has had 266 days to schedule Hyderabad polls
The elected council ended on February 10. The government reorganised the corporation the next day, appointed a special officer and still had no publicly identified poll notification by November 3.
Hyderabad’s elected civic council ended on February 10; no publicly identified poll notification had appeared by November 3.
Hyderabad’s elected municipal council has been gone for 266 days, and the Congress government in Telangana still has not produced a publicly identifiable election notification for the three corporations now running the city’s civic machinery. The elected council’s five-year term ended on February 10, according to election records and contemporaneous reporting. The government’s replacement, so far, is administration by order.
On February 11, the government split the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation into the GHMC, Cyberabad Municipal Corporation and Malkajgiri Municipal Corporation. G.O.Ms.No.55 said the move followed “administrative requirements arising out of the expansion of the city” and took effect immediately. A separate order appointed Jayesh Ranjan, IAS, as special officer for all three corporations. The elected arrangement ended; the appointed arrangement began the next day. Efficient, at least in that one direction.
By November 3, no election notification for the three reorganised corporations had been identified. The government’s stated explanations are restructuring and electoral-roll revision, with revised rolls expected on November 30. Those are documented processes. What is not documented is why they required nearly nine months, or why the government has not published a clear timetable for returning Hyderabad to elected civic administration.
Congress Working President Jagga Reddy was quoted as saying neither the party cadre nor the government was ready for the election. Other political claims that the delay is designed to improve the Congress’s electoral position remain allegations, not proven facts. They are also not necessary to judge the record: a government that can reorganise a corporation overnight but cannot schedule its election for 266 days is not displaying administrative control. It is displaying comfort with the absence of voters.
The Congress government in Telangana has turned a temporary special-officer arrangement into the only timetable Hyderabad can see. The city is waiting for an election; the government appears to be waiting for a better result.