Municipal polls: Independent candidates pose threat to Congress, BJP in Adilabad

Independent candidates, many of them dissidents denied party tickets, are emerging as a decisive factor in the municipal elections across the erstwhile Adilabad district. Poll experts say they could significantly influence chairperson posts and the mayoral race in Mancherial

Adilabad: Independent candidates are emerging as a major challenge to candidates of political parties, especially the Congress and the BJP, across the erstwhile Adilabad district.

As many as 391 candidates are in the fray across 11 municipalities in Mancherial, Adilabad, Nirmal and Kumram Bheem Asifabad districts. It is learnt that a large number of independent candidates are dissidents, mainly those denied tickets by the Congress and the BJP. They are expected to affect the prospects of party candidates, particularly those of the Congress.

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Adilabad municipality, which has 49 wards, has the highest number of independent candidates at 95, while Luxettipet civic body has 11 of them. A total of 66 independent candidates are contesting from the 34 wards of Bellampalli municipality, while 42 are in the fray from 26 wards of Bhainsa civic body. Chennur municipality, with 22 wards, is witnessing 38 independent candidates.

Thirty-five independent candidates are testing their fortunes in Kyathanpalli municipality, which has 22 wards, while 26 independent candidates are contesting from 30 wards in Kagaznagar. Asifabad and Nirmal civic bodies are seeing 22 independent candidates each. Mancherial Municipal Corporation, which is going to the polls for the first time, has 18 independent candidates in the fray, while 16 independent candidates are contesting from the 12 wards of Khanapur civic body.

Poll experts opined that independent candidates would play a crucial role in deciding the posts of chairpersons in 10 municipalities and the first mayor of the Mancherial Municipal Corporation. In the previous municipal elections, independent candidates did not significantly impact the prospects of candidates, with the BRS emerging as the dominant political force, they observed.

Officials, however, said that 26 independent candidates had registered victories in 11 municipalities across the four districts in 2020. The BRS, then Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), had bagged the chairperson posts in 10 of the 11 civic bodies in the erstwhile Adilabad district, creating a record of sorts. It secured the posts of chairperson and vice-chairperson in Adilabad, Kaghaznagar, Mancherial, Naspur, Luxettipet, Kyathanpalli, Chennur, Bellampalli, Nirmal, Khanapur and Nirmal municipalities.