The post of mayor for the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation will be occupied by women for the next two terms. Telangana’s Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) department announced this on Sunday. This paves the way for the first woman mayor in Hyderabad since the formation of Telangana in 2014.
Hyderabad 2021 Elections
January 22 will see urban local body elections for 120 municipalities and 10 municipal corporations. The posts of chairpersons and mayors for 136 municipalities were decided through a draw of lots. The draw was done by TK Sreedevi, MAUD Director, on Sunday at the CDMA office in Hyderabad. This is the first time that the post has been reserved exclusively for a woman. Prior to this, it was reserved for the backward classes.
This is the first time that the post has been reserved exclusively for a woman. Prior to this, it was reserved for the backward classes.
Previously, Hyderabad has had women mayors. Sarojini Pulla Reddy, Rani Kumudini Devi, Banda Karthika Reddy were elected as women mayors of Hyderabad city. However, there has never been a woman mayor for Greater Hyderabad. The present post of Hyderabad Mayor is held by B Ram. His term will end only in February next year. The elections for GHMC will be held after February 2021. Therefore, it is clear that the year 2021 will see a woman mayor of GHMC.
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The last mayor of GHMC, Banda Karthika Reddy, was also its first woman mayor. She expressed her delight over the reservation for women. "This is a good thing to happen for women living in Greater Hyderabad,” she said.
Other Decisions
The MAUD also selected four posts of chairpersons in the ST category. There were also 17 in SC (Scheduled Class), 40 in BC (Backward Classes) and 62 in the general category. There are 13 municipal corporations for mayor posts. Among these, seven are reserved for the general category, while four are for BCs. One mayor post each are for SC and ST. There are also seven posts for the Mayor’s office reserved in the open category. Out of these, Hyderabad, Karimnagar, Boduppal and Nizampet municipal corporations are set to get women mayors. The mayor post has been reserved for ST and SC in Meerpet and Ramagundam municipal corporations respectively.
January 22 will see urban local body elections for 120 municipalities and 10 municipal corporations. The posts of chairpersons and mayors for 136 municipalities were decided through a draw of lots.
The draw of lots also decided reservation of wards for women in the state for up to 50%. The reservation will also be applicable to those municipal bodies that are not going to polls this year, reported The Hindu.
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Prapti is an intern at SheThePeople.TV