Hyderabad: To examine all the objections and suggestions for the delimitation of wards in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), Mayor Gadwal Vijayalakshmi informed that a five-member committee has been formed. She said the delimitation of wards was notified based on a comprehensive study by the Centre for Good Governance (CGG).

The Mayor said that the GHMC expansion marks a new era for Greater Hyderabad, bringing more areas under unified governance, ensuring equitable development, better infrastructure, and improved civic services for residents. She urged the corporators and ex officio members to submit their suggestions and objections and assured them that the same would be addressed. She stated that the effort was aimed at making Hyderabad a more inclusive and vibrant metropolis.

On Tuesday, cutting across party lines, MLAs, MLCs, and corporators raised their objections over the delimitation of wards and demanded voting on the process, a physical survey of each ward, and the fixing of clear boundaries. The government has sought suggestions and objections from the public, and the final notification will be published after they are fully received and reviewed.

Speaking at a council meeting at the GHMC head office, GHMC Commissioner R V Karnan said over 3,000 objections and suggestions have been received so far, and 17 December is the last date for submitting them. Karnan revealed that 50 per cent of complaints were related to detailed maps of each ward, 30 per cent concerned boundaries and ward name changes, and 15 per cent sought additional wards and polling stations.

In the meeting, the Commissioner said that the merger of the surrounding 27 urban local bodies with the GHMC will turn the GHMC into the Telangana Core Urban Region and will make it the biggest municipal corporation in the country both in terms of area and population. He stated that the area will be increased from 650 square kilometres to 2,050 square kilometres, and the population will rise from 1.12 crore to 1.34 crore. The Commissioner added that the committee, chaired by the Chief City Planner and ACPs of town planning, was formed to prepare division-wise maps. "As per the central government decision to conduct the population Census for 2026-27, the delimitation process had to be completed by 31 December," said Karnan.

BRS MLA Talasani Srinivas Yadav demanded voting on the delimitation, a physical survey of each ward, and the fixing of boundaries. The MLA said the process was taken up without consulting political parties and corporators and claimed that even the Mayor was not informed. AIMIM Malakpet MLA Ahmed Bin Abdullah Balala said the delimitation was done to politically damage AIMIM. He sought clarifications over the criteria followed for delimitation and demanded that the Commissioner provide the details, including data. Ahmed Balala asked: "The commissioner had previously said that we will not cross the boundaries of other assembly constituencies. On what basis have these wards been divided? The last population census was held in 2011, and there is no data after that. If you have divided it based on voters, then how many voters have been designated to each ward?"