It’s a pinkwash in civic polls

Hyderabad: The TRS on Saturday recorded a landslide victory in the municipal elections, bagging 104 municipalities out of 120 in the state till reports last came in. It also won six of the nine municipal corporations for which results were declared on Saturday. Three more were hung — Nizamabad, Badangpet and Meerpet — but the TRS had bright chances in three of them.

Elections to urban local bodies were held on January 22. Results to the Karimnagar Municipal Corporation, where elections were held on January 24, will be announced on Monday.

The TRS, Congress and BJP are making efforts to get the support of independents to form the governing bodies.

In Nizamabad, the TRS is likely to get the Mayor’s post with the support of the MIM. The Congress may get the mayoral post in Badangpet with the support of the BJP. In Meerpet, independents hold the key to the fate of the three main parties.

The Congress could manage victory in seven municipalities and the BJP three. The MIM won the Bhainsa municipality in Nirmal district and was in a good position to win Jalapally.

The Forward Bloc, mainly consisting TRS rebels, is ahead in two municipalities and independents in two.

Independents and rebels have an important role in the municipal corporations of Nizamabad and Ramgundam where no party received a clear majority. The three main parties will try to win the support from independents, increasing the chances of horse-trading.

The results came as a big shock for the Congress, which was hoping for a revival of its prospects after its decimation in the Assembly elections in December last.

Though the BJP has slightly improved its position, the results fell far short of the party’s expectations. The TRS was able to establish complete political dominance in all the local bodies in the state, after its previous victories in the zilla parishad and mandal parishad elections