By Syed Zainulabedin,
The city of Hyderabad got a Muslim Mayor Mohammed Majid Hussain after a gap of 21 years. Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) candidate Majid Hussain and the Congress (I) candidate D. Rajkumar were elected for the post of Mayor and Deputy Mayor. Majid Hussain and D. Rajkumar will succeed Kartikha Reddy and Jaffer Hussain who resigned from the post in December 2011 in accordance with the agreement between MIM and Congress made in 2009 they won 43 and 52 corporation seats respectively of the 150 Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC).
MIM supermo and Member of Parliament Asaduddin Owaisi surprised his party members by selecting Ahmednagar corporator Majid Hussain as his Party candidate in last hours. Elections for the post of Mayor and Deputy Mayor were held in the GHMC meeting in which 127 members including some Members of Parliament, Assembly and the Council participated. The main opposition party Telegu Desam and BJP boycotted the elections in protest. They alleged that MIM and Congress combined flouted the rules and had an unholy alliance.
Mohammed Majid Hussain
A brief history of Hyderabad civic body
The Hyderabad city with the population of more than 80 lakhs was declared as Greater Hyderabad by including some adjoining areas into the city limits and had its election in 2009 after a gap of two years. Ironically Hyderabad hardly has had its corporation as successive governments postponed the elections time to time. Hyderabad was without a Mayor from 1969 to 1986 as the state government superseded the civic body. On the directions of Andhra Pradesh High Court the state government headed by Chief Minister N. T. Rama Rao held the elections for the 100-member Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad in 1986. MIM emerged as the largest single party by getting 38 seats. With the alliance of the Congress Party, MIM held the helm of Hyderabad affairs until 1991. The then MIM President Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi surprised the citizens when he nominated a Dalit member of his party K. Prakash Rao as the Mayor of Hyderabad. During the 5 years MIM rotated its party members as Mayor and among them were three Hindus and two Muslims.
Again Congress superseded the MCH. In 2002 the elections for the civic body were held on the directions of High Court. Telegu Desam party got the majority by winning most of the seats. After the completion of its term the government put the civic elections on hold on the pretext of demarcation of new areas and wards of the city. AP High Court intervened again and ordered for the elections and they were held in November 2009. Contrary to Mumbai and New Delhi, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation doesn’t have any powers and no control on schools and hospitals. The GHMC has a budget of Rs.2.136 crores.