First result in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections has gone in favour of Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) while ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) has taken early lead in majority of the divisions from where counting trends were available.
MIM retained Mehdipatnam division as its candidate and former mayor Mohammed Majid Hussain was declared elected.
As only 11,818 votes were polled in the division, the results were declared after the first round of counting.
Majid Hussain had become mayor of Greater Hyderabad in 2012 under seat sharing agreement between Congress and MIM following 2009 polls. At the age of 31 he became the youngest mayor in the country.
Meanwhile, TRS also opened its account when its candidate Rajkumar Patel was declared elected from Yousufguda division.
TRS was leading in 53 divisions while Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was ahead in 20 divisions. MIM was leading in eight seats while Congress was leading in only one division.
Out of 150 GHMC divisions, counting trends were available from 82 divisions.
BJP which had taken lead in counting of postal ballots started trailing after ballot boxes were opened and actual counting began. Since postal ballots are less than 2,000 in over 34.50 lakh votes polled, BJP's leads proved temporary.
Counting of votes cast in all 150 divisions began at 8 a.m. at 30 places in the city with Telangana State Election Commission deploying over 8,000 personnel.
Since paper ballots were used in the elections, the counting process is slow and results are likely be known only late in the evening.
The authorities have arranged 150 counting halls with 14 tables in each hall.
State Election Commissioner C. Parthasarthy said a counting supervisor and two counting assistants were deployed at each table.
Police have made elaborate security arrangements in the city in view of the counting. Prohibitory orders and traffic restrictions were imposed around counting centres.
Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Rachakonda police imposed a ban on victory rallies for next 48 hours.
Out of total 74.67 lakh voters, 46.55 per cent has cast their votes in 149 divisions on Tuesday. There were 1,925 postal ballots.
Polling in one division was stopped due to discrepancy in ballot paper and re-poll was held on Thursday.
The day will decide political fortunes of 1,122 candidates. The bitterly contested elections saw a high-decibel campaign with the participation of several central ministers and top national leaders of BJP.
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Union Ministers Amit Shah, Prakash Javadekar and Smriti Irani, BJP president J. P. Nadda and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath saw campaigning for BJP, which fought hard to wrest the key municipal body from TRS.
Congress, MIM and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) were among the other major contesting parties.
The campaign saw no-hold-barred attack by political opponents. Remarks by some leaders created controversies. The promise by BJP leaders to change the name of Hyderabad to Bhagyanagar if the party voted to power also sparked a row.
In 2016 elections, TRS had captured GHMC with landslide majority of 99 in 150-member body. MIM was second largest party with 44 seats while BJP was a distant with only four seats.
SOURCE: IANS