About 75 lakh voters, or one-fourth of total voters in Telangana, are expected to cast their vote on December 1 in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) civic body elections.

As many as 1,122 candidates are in fray for the 150 wards in the civic body.

The TRS is contesting in all of the wards, while the BJP is contesting in 149, the Congress in 146, the Telugu Desam Party in 106 and the MIM in 51. The polling will be held from 7 am to 6 pm on Tuesday.

The elections attracted national attention after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) deputed its top leaders for campaigning including its President JP Nadda, former President Amit Shah, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Union Ministers Smriti Irani and Prakash Javadekar and its Youth Wing chief Tejasvi Surya.

For the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) which has completed two years in office in its second term, the election is seen as a mid-term review of the performance of the K Chandrashekar Rao government.

While TRS Working President KT Rama Rao led the campaign, Chandrashekar Rao addressed a huge public meeting last week, seeking a vote for the party.

Social media role

The social media played a key role in the campaign trail, with supporters of TRS and BJP circulating videos and memes, flagging their points and making fun of the opponents.

Some candidates have sent personalised WhatsApp messages, reminding the voters about the polling time, their voter id numbers and polling booth at which they are supposed to cast their votes.

Holiday fear

The major political parties are a worried lot with thousands of families had set off for their native places in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and other States to cash in on four consecutive holidays.

As it is thousands of IT employees are away in their native places outside Telangana, as they are given work-from-home option.

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