The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) polls will be held on December 1, the State Election Commission (SEC) announced on Tuesday. The polls will be conducted through ballot boxes. Results will be declared on December 4. The nomination of candidates will be accepted from tomorrow, November 17. The last date for the nomination is November 20, the SEC said.  

The GHMC has 74,04,286 voters comprising 38,56,770 male, 35,46,847 female and 669 voters in the ‘others’ category. The corporation has 150 wards and polling will be held in 9,248 centres. The election commission had already announced the introduction of e-voting on a pilot basis for select voters in view of the coronavirus pandemic. In 150 polling booths, the election commission is also experimenting with facial recognition. 

The nominations will be scrutinised on November 21. Last date for withdrawing nomination is November 22.  

Meanwhile, the BJP has slammed the decision of the State Election Commission, accusing it of being a “puppet” in the hands of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. The party alleged that the SEC announced the polling dates which were “politically convenient” to the TRS party. 

“Election Commission is an independent institution and is supposed to function without any external intervention. However, Telangana State Election Commission seems to be running on whims and fancies of KCR and his party TRS. BJP strongly denounces the method of functioning of SEC in Telangana. Announcement of poll dates politically convenient to the TRS party has become a regular practice in the state.” BJP chief spokesperson K Krishna Saagar Rao alleged. 

The BJP said that they will complain to the Central Election Commission over the SEC's “questionable style of functioning”. Krishna Saagar said, “The current method of functioning jeopardises the democratic spirit and integrity of the election process.”