Chandigarh: All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary, former Union minister and Sirsa MP Kumari Selja on Thursday said that the ruling BJP government's political ground has slipped in Haryana, and that is why, fearing defeat, it has been avoiding conducting urban body elections which has been long due.
The residents of eight municipal corporations, four municipal councils and 21 municipalities are waiting for the elections, she said in a statement and added that as soon as the Congress government is formed in the state, the pending urban body elections would be held.
Kumari Selja said that out of the 11 municipal corporations in the state, only Panchkula, Ambala City, and Sonipat are currently being run by elected representatives while elections for the Manesar Municipal Corporation have not been conducted since it came into existence.
The tenure of the Gurgaon and Faridabad municipal corporations ended a long time ago, while the tenures of Hisar, Panipat, Rohtak, Yamunanagar, and Karnal municipal corporations ended in December. The former Union Minister said that the elections for the municipal councils have also been pending since long.
In many of these places, even the work of ward delimitation is still incomplete. Kumari Selja said that the BJP government is running the small governments of cities and villages through officials instead of people's representatives. Previously, the panchayat elections were conducted with a delay of 21 months, she said and added that due to the absence of a House of elected representatives, development works in municipal corporations, municipal councils, and municipal areas are affected. Even the budget of the bodies cannot be finalised.
