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Hyderabad: The election to the municipal chairperson and vice-chairperson posts in Khanapur municipality descended into chaos once again on Saturday, April 4, prompting authorities to postpone the process to Sunday, April 5, following scenes of disruption inside the municipal office during polling.

There are 12 councilor divisions in Khanapur municipality, out of which Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) won four, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won four, Congress won three and an independent won a seat, giving a hung verdict when it came to electing the chairperon and vice-chairperson.

The problem arose because each party said they had enough number of councilors’ support to stake claim as majority. Adding to this was behind-the-scene negotiations which took place between certain parties.

When the election was taking place, Congress was certain that BJP and BRS would team-up and claim enough seats to win the two top posts. Congress was also confident of gaining the sole independent councilor’s vote, in addition to Khanapur MLA Vedma Bojju’s vote, as he is also the ex-officio member of the municipality, which would have taken Congress’ tally to 5. The magic figure needed to win the election was 7.

However, in case of any cross-voting between BJP and BRS, the Congress’ chances were looking slim.

When the election officials called the name of BJP councilor Ankam Mounika as the party’s choice for municipal chairperson, 7 people raised their hands, which was enough for the officials to declare her victory.

According to sources, the quorum required for conducting the election was also reached.

Vedma Bojju got into an argument with the election officials and questioned how could they call Mounika’s name, when they should have called the name of Congress’ candidate Chinnam Satyam first. Bojju claimed that Congress had the support of 7 councilors.

In the disturbance inside the municipal office that followed the officials postponed the election till Sunday.

Enraged by the decision, BJP and BRS councilors made a sit-in at the municipal office along with BJP Asifabad district in-charge Riteesh Rathod and BRS district in-charge Johnson Naik, demanding the district collector to come to the municipal office immediately and conduct the election.

Several followers of BJP and BRS gathered at the municipal office, creating a tense atmosphere there. The police resorted to lathi-charge to bring situation under control. BJP councilor B Satyavathi who was present there lost her consciousness in the melee.

“He (Vedma Bojju) should have some shame to come to the municipal office after winning just 3 seats. He had the support of the independent candidate, and another BRS councilor whom he poached. Despite that, BJP candidate had the support of 7 councilors which was enough to win the election. The election process was completed and the result should have been declared. He threatened the election officials and got the election postponed. It is a mockery and murder of democracy,” a BJP councilor told the media.

He urged the election officials to at least now conduct a free and fair election on Sunday without succumbing to the pressure from the ruling party.