Congress wins five municipalities; Independents clinch two, BRS captures one in erstwhile Adilabad

The Congress secured chairperson posts in five urban local bodies in erstwhile Adilabad district, including Mancherial Municipal Corporation. Independents and coalitions won in other areas, while elections in three municipalities were postponed due to lack of quorum and disturbances

Adilabad: The ruling Congress bagged chairperson posts in five urban local bodies including the Mancherial Municipal Corporation, Nirmal, Bellampalli, Adilabad, Luxettipet and Chennur municipalities out of 11 civic bodies in erstwhile Adilabad district. Special meetings were held to elect the heads of the urban local bodies on Monday.

The Congress, which got 44 councillors in the 60-member Mancherial Municipal Corporation, easily captured the post of the first mayor reserved for BC general and deputy mayor. While Dharani Madhu from division number 32 was unanimously elected as the mayor, Salla Ramya of division 54 was chosen as the deputy mayor.

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However, Dharani Madhu’s candidature came to the fore, surprising many. The cadres of the Congress expected that Penta Rajitha belonging to division 46 would be nominated as the mayor. They said that both Madhu and Ramya were recommended by the top leadership of the party considering their efforts to strengthen the party in Mancherial town.

The Congress could easily secure the posts of chairperson and vice-chairperson of Chennur, Luxettipet and Nirmal municipalities as it had an absolute majority. The party candidates won in 11 out of a total of 18 wards in Chennur, while it could register victory in 11 wards in the 15-member Luxettipet and 25 wards from the 42-member Nirmal civic body.

Peddinti Padma was unanimously picked as the chairperson of Chennur civic body, while Nayakapu Vinay was elected as the vice-chairperson. D Anjali and M Rajeshwari were unanimously chosen as the chairperson and vice-chairperson of Luxettipet municipality. A couple, Appala Kavya and her husband Ganesh Chakravarthy, were unanimously elected as the chairperson and vice-chairperson of Nirmal civic body.

Meanwhile, the BRS captured the newly formed Asifabad municipality head post by enjoying a majority, but with the unexpected support of a Congress councillor. Mengre Akash and Ahmed were chosen as the chairperson and vice-chairperson of Asifabad civic body. While a coalition formed among the Congress, the BRS and Independents clinched Adilabad civic body’s chief post, another coalition of BJP and Independents secured Bhainsa municipality governing council.

Election of chairpersons to Kyathanpalli, Khanapur and Kagaznagar municipalities was postponed due to lack of quorum to convene the special meetings on Tuesday. No party secured a magic figure in the Khanapur and Kagaznagar civic bodies, resulting in a hung verdict. Alleged disturbances created by the Congress led to postponement of the election of Kyathanpalli chairperson.