Hyderabad: A year after the Jubilee Hills bypoll, which the Congress won by 24,729 votes, Hyderabad is still waiting for elections to the three municipal corporations carved out of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in February.
The by-election was held on 11 November 2025 after BRS MLA Maganti Gopinath died of a heart attack that June. The BRS fielded his widow, Maganti Sunitha.
Congress candidate V Naveen Yadav polled 98,988 votes against 74,259 for Sunitha. BJP candidate Lankala Deepak Reddy finished a distant third with 17,061 votes. A total of 1,94,631 votes were polled.
The margin surprised many. Several exit polls had predicted a close contest, and counting began tight, with Naveen Yadav ahead by only 47 votes after the first round. His lead then grew steadily.
The Congress took a seat the BRS had held. Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy described the result as a “tremor before an earthquake”. BRS working president K T Rama Rao said the result showed his party was the alternative to the ruling Congress.
The bypoll was the last major contest in the city before its civic structure was redrawn.
Three corporations, no councils since Jubilee Hills bypoll
The GHMC council’s term ended on 10 February 2026. The next day, the government reorganised the GHMC and 27 municipalities within the Outer Ring Road into three bodies: a smaller GHMC, the Cyberabad Municipal Corporation (CMC) and the Malkajgiri Municipal Corporation (MMC).
All three are governed by the Core Urban Region (Integrated Governance) Act, 2026. The reorganised GHMC covers about 689 sq km and runs the Shamshabad, Rajendranagar, Charminar, Golconda, Khairatabad and Secunderabad zones.
The CMC covers the Serilingampally, Kukatpally and Quthbullapur zones. The MMC covers Malkajgiri, Uppal and LB Nagar. Together, the three have 300 wards and 60 circles under a delimitation finalised in December 2025.
Officials run all three bodies. R V Karnan continues as GHMC Commissioner, G Srijana heads the CMC and T Vinay Krishna Reddy heads the MMC.
No date has been set for elections. The Congress swept the statewide municipal polls held earlier this year, but the delay in Hyderabad has caused unease within the party and the Cabinet.
The government is expected to call polls only after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is complete. Petitions challenging the delimitation are pending before the High Court. Some reports suggest the polls could be pushed to December 2027.
The SIR will also change the voter base. Across Telangana, 73.39 lakh names classified as absent, shifted, dead or duplicate were left out of the draft rolls. The final roll is due on 30 November.
The new ward map, three separate councils and a revised voter list mean the next civic contest will be fought on very different ground from the Jubilee Hills bypoll.
For residents, the delay means that for nearly nine months there have been no elected corporators to take up complaints about roads, drainage, parks and property tax.