Whips Not Binding in Mayor, Deputy Mayor Polls
Parties issue whips ahead of February 16 indirect civic polls
Hyderabad: The Congress, BRS and the BJP have decided to issue whips to their newly elected ward members, as well as to ex officio members like MPs, MLCs and MLAs, to prevent cross-voting during the indirect elections on February 16.
The newly elected corporators will vote to select mayors and deputy mayor in corporations and chairpersons and vice-chairpersons in municipalities on Monday.
Despite the issuance of whips, members are not automatically disqualified for voting against party directions and will have to follow a process. Under the Telangana Municipalities Act, 2019, a party must lodge a complaint with the State Election Commission (SEC) if a ward member violates the whip.
The SEC will then issue notice within a week of receiving the complaint, conduct a hearing and recommend disqualification if warranted. No timeframe has been specified for this process. These provisions apply only to elected ward members, while MPs, MLAs and MLCs fall outside its scope, though they remain subject to party disciplinary action.
With 37 municipalities delivering hung verdicts, attention has shifted to ex officio members — including Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs, MLAs and MLCs — who are expected to play a decisive role in the indirect elections.
The Congress has emerged as the single largest party in the hung municipalities with 244 wards (37.4 per cent), followed closely by the BRS with 238 (36.4 per cent) and the BJP with 95 (14.5 per cent), underscoring the importance of every eligible vote.
The State Election Commission has issued guidelines citing a 2021 Telangana High Court judgment, clarified that only Lok Sabha MPs and MLAs representing constituencies wholly or partly within the municipal limits can be co-opted as ex officio members. Rajya Sabha MPs and MLCs, who do not have territorial constituencies, are eligible only if they are registered voters within the municipal area concerned. Any vote cast in violation of these criteria will be treated as null and void.
The clarification curtails the earlier practice of deploying Rajya Sabha MPs and MLCs in neighbouring civic bodies to influence outcomes. Ex officio members enjoy voting rights equal to elected councillors and corporators in the election of chairpersons and mayors, making their presence crucial in closely contested bodies.
Corporations such as Nizamabad, Karimnagar and Kothagudem are expected to witness intense political manoeuvring. Numerically, the Congress holds an advantage with around 65 MLAs, eight Lok Sabha MPs and three Rajya Sabha MPs, besides additional support from defected BRS MLAs and MLCs.
The BRS has 27 MLAs, four Rajya Sabha MPs and 20 MLCs (though six of them defected to Congress) but no Lok Sabha representation, while the BJP has eight MLAs, eight Lok Sabha MPs and three MLCs. AIMIM, with one Lok Sabha MP and nine MLAs, is likely to play a key role.