GHMC deputy mayor to quit on December 16

HYDERABAD: City deputy mayor Jaffer Hussain will submit his resignation to mayor Banda Karthika Reddy at 3 pm on December 16.On the follwong day (December 17), Karthika Reddy will step down as mayor at a special council meeting and ordinary meeting.As per the agreement reached between the two allies, Congress and Majilis Ittehadul Muslimeen in November 2009, the Congress has to make way for MIM to take over mayoral post for the next two years. The MIM will hand over the deputy mayor post to the Congress for next two years. In the fifth and final year, the two parties will share the tenure for six months each.The election will be a mere formality as the two parties have a majority in the corporation. In the 150member body, the Congress has 52 corporators and its ally MIM 43, while the TDP has 45, BJP five and PRP one. There are four independents.GHMC officials told Express that the process of electing a new mayor and a deputy mayor will take three to four weeks. Under Section 92 of the GHMC Act, deputy mayor has to submit resignation to the mayor and it should be accepted by the mayor. Then the mayor has to submit the resignation by convening a special council meeting.After accepting their resignations, the commissioner will inform the government of the resignations. The government will issue an order or gazette notification. All this will take about seven days.Then the government will send a letter to the State Election Commission (SEC), requesting it to appoint an election authority for conducting the elections which takes three to five days.Under Section 90 of Rule 4 (1)of conduct of elections to mayor and deputy mayor, the SEC will authorise the the Hyderabad district collector/joint collector for conduct of the elections which requires two days. Under Section 90 of Rule 4 (2), the collector will issue a notice duly giving three clear days in advance of the date of the meeting for election of mayor and deputy mayor. This process will take about six days. If mayor and deputy mayor are not elected on the first day for want of quorum or any other reason, the meeting should be held on the next day.