Electoral rolls still not ready, MC elections in Haryana likely to be held in March

The elections to the 32 municipalities in Haryana, which are being dubbed as ‘mini Assembly polls’ in view of another battle of ballots between the ruling BJP and the Opposition, are now set for March this year.

The non-finalisation of the electoral rolls of certain municipal corporations is the major reason behind the delay in the MC elections, which are already long overdue.

Sources said the final electoral rolls for the Hisar and Rohtak municipal corporations are set to be published on January 15. On the other hand, the electoral rolls of the Karnal and Yamunanagar municipal corporations will be out by January 28. The electoral rolls of other municipalities had already been put on the website of the State Election Commission.

Parties busy in Delhi elections

* As the parties are focused on the Delhi Assembly elections, the municipal corporation polls are set to be announced after February 8, the day Delhi results would be announced

* Also, the ward delimitation work in the Panipat Municipal Corporation is still underway and the electoral rolls of the Karnal and Yamunanagar civic bodies would be ready by January 28

Meanwhile, the work on the delimitation of the wards of the Panipat MC is still underway, giving rise to uncertainty about its elections along with other MCs. Similarly, the election process of the Kalianwali municipal committee is under litigation.

A senior officer said the schedule for the single-phase MC elections would be announced after February 8, when the election results of the Delhi Assembly polls would be announced. As the entire electoral process from the notification of the polls to the results would take around 25 days, we can expect the MC polls in March, the officer asserted.

It is argued that since a sizable number of party cadre of various parties would be busy in the February 5 Delhi Assembly polls, the State Election Commission would announce the schedule for the MC polls only after election results on February 8.

After the October 5 Assembly election win, the BJP had already announced that it would contest the elections to all municipalities on its party symbol. The Congress traditionally fights the election to the municipal corporations, including that of Mayor’s, on its party symbol, though a formal decision to this effect is yet to be taken by the party high command. Meanwhile, AAP has announced its decision to contest all MC polls on the party symbol.

The other parties also contest the election on the party symbol and support the ‘like-minded’ candidates on certain civic bodies.

The MC elections to Gurugram, Faridabad, Hisar, Rohtak, Yamunanagar, Manesar, Panipat and Karnal have been delayed for one reason or the other.