With polls to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) round the corner, the ruling party TRS, opposition Congress and the TDP-BJP combine are gearing up for the first biggest electoral exercise in the newly-formed Telangana State.

The GHMC polls, likely to be held in the coming few weeks, are a litmus test for the ruling TRS as the party has not been known to be a major force in the city. TRS did not contest the last GHMC elections in 2009 and is keen to win the coming elections to prove its complete domination in Telangana.

The State Election Commission has already made it clear that adhering to the commitment to High Court; the poll process would be completed before January 31.

There are as many as 24 Assembly constituencies under the GHMC limits with a population of about 65 lakh. With a total electoral strength of more than 70.68 lakh voters (number of voters exceeded the population in GHMC), the GHMC polls would elect a council of 150 corporators. For voters to exercise their franchise, the GHMC has decided to use more than 11,000 EVMs at 7,500 polling stations spread across its jurisdiction.

As GHMC poll was being seen as a prestigious contest, all the major parties were taking it very seriously and have started chalking out their strategies.

While K Taraka Rama Rao, son of Chief Minister KCR will spearhead the campaign of the TRS, TDP will be led by the young scion N Lokesh, son of party’s national president and Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu.

The TRS had kicked off its campaign for the poll much ahead of its rivals with a number of hoardings on the government’s achievements installed at different locations in the city. The TRS government had also announced property tax exemption for certain sections and other decisions like regularization of contract staff and fresh recruitment in government departments.

Congress has ruled out tie up with any party and will contest on its own. Party general secretary Digvijay Singh has already held strategy sessions with the Hyderabad and Telangana Congress leaders on how to regain the past glory.

TDP which was likely to discuss the seat sharing with BJP leaders on Friday was also taking the fight seriously. According to the party sources Chandrababu Naidu will address a public meeting in Hyderabad on December 28 to kick off the campaign.

TDP and BJP were likely to repeat the alliance arrangements of 2014. BJP president and strategist Amit Shah today met the Telangana leaders and reviewed the preparations. State BJP president G Kishan Reddy and senior leaders Indrasena Reddy, K Lakshman and  Nagam Janardhan Reddy took part in the discussions in Delhi. The leaders also met the Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu.