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Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad
In an election marred by controversy over who has the right to vote, the Bharatiya Janata Party-Telugu Desam Party combine bagged the post of deputy mayor in the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad on Tuesday.
Subhash Chanderji of the BJP was declared elected by a margin of two votes amidst allegations by the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen and the Congress that MCH officials subverted the rules to allow ineligible MPs and legislators to cast their votes.
The BJP nominee secured 64 votes against his MIM rival Abdul Rahman (Haroon) Khan's 62.
According to MIM sources, two Congress corporators and one belonging to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi indulged in cross-voting and supported the BJP nominee.
In an electoral college of 129 members comprising 99 corporators, 15 MPs, 14 legislators and the mayor, 126 turned up to vote. Two Majlis Bachao Tehreek corporators and the lone Telangana Sadhana Samithi corporator boycotted the poll.
Despite protests from the MIM and the Congress, M Rajaiah, TDP Member of Parliament from Siddipet, G Sayanna, TDP legislator, and BJP floor leader N Indrasena Reddy cast their votes on the ground that their names figured in the voters' list.
The MIM-Congress combine, however, contended that these members had already cast their votes in elections in their municipal bodies in their respective towns and no person can vote in more than one civic body.
There was also controversy over voting by nominated members of the state assembly and Parliament. The nominated members who cast their votes included the BJP's Denzil B Atkinson (Lok Sabha), Dr C Narayana Reddy (Rajya Sabha) and Della Godfrey (Vidhan Sabha).
Congress legislator D Nagender said his party would go to court questioning the voting rights in the MCH of these nominated members who cannot even vote in their own respective legislative bodies.
The other Lok Sabha members who voted in the deputy mayor's election were Salahuddin Owaisi (MIM, Hyderabad), Bandaru Dattatreya (BJP, Secunderabad) and G Sukhender Reddy (TDP, Nalgonda).
The officials, explaining the presence of MPs from constituencies other than Hyderabad and Secunderabad, said that under the MCH Act all those MPs and MLAs whose constituencies overlap the corporation's area are eligible to vote.
Rajya Sabha members who are registered as voters in the MCH area were also allowed to vote. Those who voted were Daggubati Venkateswara Rao (Anna-TDP), S Ramachandra Reddy, P Prabhakar Reddy, K Ramamohan Rao, Yadlapati Venkat Rao, Jayaprada, Alladi P Rajkumar, K Kala Venkat Rao (all TDP) and Dasari Narayana Rao (Congress).
Venkateswara Rao, estranged co-brother of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, surprised everyone by turning up to vote. It showed that the TDP-BJP combine had pulled out all the stops to ensure that all the MPs who figured in the voters' list voted for the deputy mayor.
Venkateswara Rao, who became a member of the Rajya Sabha in 1996 on the NTR-TDP ticket, has been keeping a low profile after hobnobbing with the BJP and Anna-TDP. In the last two years, he has been keeping aloof from all political activity. So his move now to come and vote for the TDP is being seen in the context of efforts within the NTR clan to bring him back into the party and renominate him for the Rajya Sabha in the ensuing biennial election.
Meanwhile, the defeat came as a big disappointment to the MIM, which, under an agreement with the Congress, had left the chairmanship of the Standing Committee to the latter. Many MIM corporators were angry at the cross-voting by at least two Congress members. "It is a betrayal," said one.
MIM legislator Akbaruddin Owaisi, however, avoided the blame game and said his party's alliance with the Congress would continue.
There was jubilation in the BJP-TDP camp. "It is the people's victory," exulted Mayor Teegala Krishna Reddy. "I am happy that I will have a person like Subhash Chanderji as my deputy."
Union Minister of State for Urban Development Bandaru Dattatreya denied that the BJP had encouraged cross-voting by Congress members. "If it has happened, the Congress should blame itself, not the BJP," he quipped.
EARLIER REPORTS: TDP wrests control of Hyderabad municipal corporation Hyderabad mayor takes oath amid protests
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