It has been over five years since the term of last general body of the Greater Visakha Municipal Corporation ended. The inordinate delay in holding elections to it draws the ire of the Opposition parties, particularly Left and Congress. Left parties are even launching a hunger strike here on Friday to register their protest against the delay.
However, delay in elections to the corporation has been a regular feature. After the end of the term in 2005, elections were held in 2007. Though the term of the council ended in 2012, elections could not be held due to problems related to merger of Anakapalle and Bhimunipatnam municipalities with GVMC, court cases, bifurcation agitation and Hudhud cyclone.
In spite of its good show by Telugu Desam in all the elections, including the Assembly polls in 2014, election preparations have not begun in the corporation. It now talks about Legislative Council election as dress rehearsal to GVMC poll.
Surprisingly, the reaction from political parties barring the Left is muted. Alleging ulterior motives in not having an elected body to the corporation and demanding that elections be held, the CPI(M) and CPI have planned the fast at the Gandhi statue .
Former Government Whip Dronamraju Srinivasa Rao says the development works, particularly in the peripheral areas, taken up by the Congress Government under JNNURM came to a halt. In spite of high profile events, development at grass root level suffered because of lack of monitoring by corporators, he points out.
Though there was some preparedness soon after the Assembly elections, MLAs had opposed it and now the TDP was afraid that the outcome might be negative, he said. “It’s against the democracy, whichever party wins. We demand immediate elections,” he says.
“Not only in Visakhapatnam corporation, elections to 10 other corporations have to be held. Not holding civic elections dilutes the spirit of 74th Constitutional amendment,” says YSRC leader and former MLA Tyanala Vijay Kumar who began his career as a corporator. However, the TDP is not confident because it had not fulfilled all the promises, he says.
But holding the elections is not difficult since the court cases on the merger of Bhimunipatnam were filed by TDP leaders they can be withdrawn, he says.
However, the party is concentrating on larger issues like special category status (SCS), the railway zone, other poll promises and the Yuvabheri meetings of party president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, the YSRC leader says.
The BJP, an electoral ally of TDP, has also not come out with any demand. “On our part we are preparing ourselves for the election though we have not made any specific demand. It is for the State government to hold elections,” says BJP city president M. Nagendra.
“TDP had initially delayed the polls to get the Smart Pulse Survey completed so as to have a grip of the caste equation in the wards and use it for electoral purposes,” alleges CPI(M) leader Ch. Narsinga Rao.
The government was deliberately delaying elections so as to directly deal with the affairs in the city like alienation or lease of land or spending funds, says the party’s city secretary B. Ganga Rao.
Even withdrawing the two petitions in the court opposing the merger of Bhimunipatnam is not an issue as they were filed TDP leaders, he says.
