Ex-councillors accuse govt of delaying Ambala MC election

Tribune News Service

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Ambala, September 13

Former councillors, whose wards fall under the Ambala Sadar Municipal Council, have accused the government of delaying the process of the election as the delimitation process for the council is yet to be completed. The final notification for delimitation of wards of the Ambala Municipal Corporation has already been issued.

The former councillors have also accused the government of not including the councillors belonging to Opposition parties in the ad hoc committee formed for the delimitation process in February.

As per the notification issued in March, there will be 31 wards in the council against 9 wards, when it was the part of Ambala Municipal Corporation in last tenure that ended in July 2018. Last year, the corporation was bifurcated into Ambala Municipal Corporation and Ambala Sadar Municipal Council.

Parvinder Pari, a former councillor from ward No.18, said: “While the final notification for the corporation has been issued, the process in the council is still at the delimitation stage. The tenure completed two years ago but we are still attesting certificates as former councillors. No one listens to us when we approach officials for any work related to our wards.”

Former Deputy Mayor Sudhir Jaiswal said: “The delimitation process is going on at a slow pace and we have been completely ignored by the administration. All members of the committee formed for delimitation process belong to the BJP. We will soon meet the Deputy Commissioner and submit a memorandum in support of our demands and concerns. The election must be conducted at the earliest so that the elected members can raise the issues of their respective areas and get the development work done.”

Lalita Prasad, a former councillor from ward 20 and member of the committee formed for delimitation, said: “A survey is being conducted and hopefully the work will be conducted soon. The councillors, who have worked for people, shouldn’t be afraid of any change in the limits of the wards as people have faith in them and they can win easily but those who haven’t worked for people are always afraid of changes in wards.”

Ambala Sadar Municipal Council Secretary Rajesh Kumar said the delimitation process for the wards was still on and it might take at least one more month to complete. “Once the process is complete, it will be sent to the government for proposed notification,” he added.