Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has said that the newly elected GHMC corporators of TRS and its Members of Parliament, legislators and Members of Legislative Council who constitute the ex-officio members of the municipal body would be given sealed covers with the names of the party candidates for Mayor and Deputy Mayor election on February 11.
The corporators and ex-officio members will have to reach the party office at 9 a.m. for proceeding to the election at the GHMC office in vehicles arranged by party. The covers will have to be opened only in the election hall. Sources said the TRS planned to win the election of Mayor on its own without taking the support of MIM. The election will be carried out with majority vote, which effectively means that the TRS will scrape through even without the support of its ex-offico members.
The TRS has 56 corporators in a body of 149 (one BJP member died after election) and enjoys the support of 38 ex-officio members. The MIM has 44 corporators and ten ex-officio members and BJP - 48 corporators and three ex-officio members. The Congress is nowhere in the scene with just two corporators and one ex-officio member.
So, neither the MIM nor the BJP are a threat to the chances of the TRS.
Of the 38 ex-officio members but six ex-officio members of TRS, six had already exercised their voting right in other municipalities. This leaves the party with a strength of 88 members who are eligible to vote in a body of 202.
There were, in all, 52 ex-officio members of TRS, MIM, Congress and BJP but eight of them across parties had voted in other municipalities. Invitation to ex-officio members who were ineligible to vote was not extended for election of Mayor and Deputy Mayor but they could attend subsequent meetings.
The Mayor will be elected after the corporators are administered oath of office. After the oath is administered, a quorum of at least 50% of elected members is required for the election.
Majority corporators and ex-officio members can elect the Mayor and Deputy Mayor without the support of any other party if it chose to abstain from the election.
