Visakhapatnam: A special
Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) council meeting will be held on May 19 to elect a new deputy mayor for Vizag city. The
NDA parties recently succeeded in passing a no-confidence motion against deputy mayor
J. Sridhar, who belongs to the YSRCP. The state govt has approved the minutes of the no-confidence motion discussion and officially notified the vacancy. Consequently, it has issued an order to conduct the special meeting for the deputy mayoral election on May 19.
Visakhapatnam deputy collector Mayur Ashok will serve as the presiding officer for the election.
The NDA has won back-to-back no-confidence motions against both the mayor and the deputy mayor from the YSRCP. The mayoral post was given to a TDP corporator, and Peela Srinivasa Rao was elected as mayor about two weeks ago.
Now, regarding the
deputy mayor election, some corporators from the
Jana Sena Party are also vying for the position. They recently wrote a letter to party chief Pawan Kalyan, explaining Jana Sena's "crucial role" in garnering support for the no-confidence motions and securing NDA's victories in both cases. In the letter, they argued that Jana Sena fully deserves the deputy mayor post and urged Pawan Kalyan to make an appropriate decision.
From a caste representation perspective, the deputy mayor post is expected to go to a member of the Yadava community, as the recently ousted mayor also belonged to that community. This move is seen as a way to compensate or pacify the community.