Chief Minister Revanth Reddy is adopting a strategy similar to the late Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy’s approach by reorganising the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) before the 2026 elections.
The Congress party has historically struggled to gain ground in Hyderabad’s municipal body. In the 2002 Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad (MCH) election, which had 99 wards, the party finished third.
YSR transformed the political landscape in 2007 by merging the MCH with 12 surrounding municipalities to create the 150-ward GHMC. This expansion diluted the power centres of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM).
The strategy paid off when Congress secured the Mayor post in 2009 with 52 seats, marking its best-ever performance in GHMC elections.
However, the party’s fortunes declined sharply in subsequent polls. Congress won only 2 seats in both the 2016 and 2020 GHMC elections, representing a complete collapse of its municipal presence.
Now, Revanth Reddy is implementing a similar expansion plan by doubling the GHMC from 150 to 300 wards. This move aims to dilute the strongholds of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the peripheral areas.
Once the expansion is complete, GHMC will cover 2,053 square kilometres, making it the largest municipal body in India. This will surpass the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) with 250 wards and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) with 227 wards.
The reorganisation mirrors YSR’s tactics from nearly two decades ago, when expanding the municipal boundaries helped Congress break the dominance of established parties in urban Hyderabad.
The expanded GHMC will incorporate additional areas from the city’s outskirts, where BRS and BJP currently hold significant influence. By adding new wards, the Congress government aims to reshape the electoral arithmetic in its favour before the next municipal elections.
The expansion will make GHMC the largest municipal corporation in the country by both area and number of wards, positioning it ahead of major metropolitan bodies in Delhi and Mumbai.
