How Will Hyderabad Mayor Be Elected?

With none of political parties getting a clear majority even after a high-decibel campaign for the GHMC polls, the TRS is likely to enter into a post-poll alliance with the AIMIM to bag the Mayor seat. Buoyed by the victory in the Dubbak bypoll, the BJP tried to repeat the same in the Greater elections and it had succeeded to a large extent by winning in more than 40 divisions.

Now, let us see how does a political party win the GHMC elections and how is the mayor of Hyderabad elected?

Apart from the 150 candidates who win the GHMC election from various wards in the city, there are also 52 ex-officio members, who also would vote for the mayor. Ex-officio members are members of the Legislative Assembly, Legislative Council and Parliament, whose jurisdiction falls within the limits of the municipal corporation. So MLAs, MPs and MLCs from Hyderabad can also vote for the Mayor.

This rule is laid down in the GHMC Act, 1956. Section 5(1A) of the Act dubs the elected representatives as ex-officio members and they are granted the “right to take part in the proceedings of any meetings of the municipal councils or corporation, as the case may be.”

While ex-officio members are not allowed to vote on other matters, Section 90 (sub-section 1) of the same Act, lays down guidelines which allow them to vote for a mayor and a deputy mayor at the first meeting of the corporation.

In Hyderabad, there are 52 ex-officio members but seven of them are ineligible to vote as they had exercised their vote in another corporation or council which fell under their jurisdiction. Of the remaining 45 members, 31 belong to the TRS, 10 to the AIMIM, 3 to BJP one of the Congress.

Adding together the 150 elected members and 45 ex-officio members, the total strength of the GHMC council would be considered 195. For any party to win with a simple majority, it needs 98 votes. As the TRS has 31 ex-officio members, it needs 67 seats in the election to choose the next mayor of Hyderabad. However, if the TRS does not win 67 seats, then the pink party would be forced to forge an alliance or broker a deal for the mayor’s post.