By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 1 Dec: Garhwal Post had indicated some months ago that the government is in no hurry to hold civic polls in the state on time and that it may defer these till after the Parliamentary elections on some or the other pretext.
Now, the government has issued orders handing over administrative control of the municipal bodies, including the Nagar Nigams, to administrators. This order will come into effect tomorrow.
While the 97 municipal bodies will be mostly under control of the Executive Officers of these bodies, the District Magistrates have been appointed as administrators of the Nagar Nigams.
It may be recalled that the municipal elections in Uttarakhand were due in November 2023 but the polls were delayed on various pretexts like deciding on reserved seats for SC, ST and OBCs. Besides this, it was also claimed by the State Election Commission that the electoral rolls could also not be finalised in time to enable timely polls. The last time the elections were held on time was in November, 2018.
It may be noted that there are 97 municipal bodies and 8 Municipal Corporations in Uttarakhand. However, now that it is almost certain that the municipal elections will only be held after the general elections due in April 2024, all the civic bodies in the state will go under control of administrators with effect from tomorrow. Orders to this effect have been issued by Principal Secretary, Urban Development, RK Sudhanshu.
Under the Municipal Corporation and Municipality Act, elections to the bodies should be held 15 days before or after the end of the term. In absence of this, the municipal bodies are mandatorily handed over to the administrators. using the powers conferred in sub-section (4) of Section 8 of the Uttar Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act 1959 (as implemented and as amended in Uttarakhand). From 2 December till further orders, the District Magistrates have been appointed in all the bodies of the state as the administrators.
The tenures of only two bodies, Municipal Corporation, Roorkee, and Municipal Council, Bajpur, are due to end next year as the elections were held here in 2019. In addition, elections have never been held in Badrinath, Kedarnath and Gangotri Nagar Panchayats.
Reacting to the delay in holding civic elections, the Congress has alleged that the government is scared of losing these elections and has postponed the polls in fear of certain defeat. Leader of the Opposition Yashpal Arya claimed that development work being done by the bodies will get adversely affected but added that Congress will not only win all the 5 Lok Sabha seats in the state but also the civic elections that will follow the general elections.
