By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 10 Oct: The government has extended the term of the Select Committee constituted on the Uttarakhand (Uttar Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act, 1959) (Amendment) Bill, 2024 has been extended by Speaker Ritu Khanduri Bhushan for a month from 9 October.
It may be recalled that the Committee has been constituted to make recommendations in respect of the reservations for OBC and other categories for the Municipal Corporation polls to be held in the state, including Dehradun. It may be recalled that during the discussion on the bill in this respect which had made some provisions regarding survey of the wards for the reservations under some categories like OBC, some members, all of them being from the ruling BJP, had raised objections in this regard. These included MLAs like Vinod Chamoli, Munna Singh Chauhan and Banshidhar Bhagat and Preetam Singh Panwar. They had pointed to certain discrepancies in the bill and had advised the government not to rush the bill as it had the potential to have long term adverse impact on the reservation of the wards. The government had appeared to be in some hurry as it had committed before the Uttarakhand High Court that it will hold the municipal elections soon. To this, the MLAs had said that in case of early elections, the elections could be held on the basis of 2011 census.
Meanwhile, the Opposition parties allege that the extension of the term of the Select Committee is yet another pretext to delay the elections further. The municipal bodies in the state are currently functioning under administrators for almost ten months now and the government even had to face a case in the Uttarakhand High Court which had sought a response regarding the delay in the elections. However, upon the assurances given by the government, the Court had disposed of the petition. BJP refutes the allegation of deliberate delay in holding the civic polls and claims that the extension of the select committee is necessary for technical reasons.
