Rohtak Mayor’s post prestigious for Congress, BJP
The chair of Rohtak Mayor has become a prestige issue for the ruling BJP as well as the major Opposition party, the Congress. While the BJP wants to retain the post to assert its supremacy, the Congress is keen to wrest the control of the Municipal Corporation of Rohtak, which is the bastion of two-time Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
The BJP had won the Mayoral election last time and Manmohan Goel was elected Mayor.
However, the last tenure of the elected House of Rohtak Municipal Corporation was marred by allegations of corruption, official apathy, lack of funds and authority.
Even the previous Mayor had conceded that many developmental projects could not take off due to lack of power, paucity of funds and non-cooperative attitude of the officials concerned.
"Rohtak was subjected to step-motherly treatment as the local MLA was from the Opposition. Pressing concerns like monkey menace, stray cattle and dogs, roads, sewerage and proper maintenance of public parks and toilets were not addressed," said local Congress leader and former Municipal Councillor Gulshan Ishpuniyani.
This time, the post of Mayor has been reserved for the Scheduled Castes.
As many as 19 aspirants for the coveted post have applied for the Congress ticket, while 21 have staked their claims to the BJP ticket.
Though the candidates of other political parties as well as some independents are also likely to contest the Mayoral poll, the main contest is likely to be between the Congress and the BJP candidates.
Election Officer Major (retd) Gayatri Ahlawat stated that 285 booths have been set up in Rohtak for the municipal elections, in which the average number of voters is 1,120 per booth.
"A single window has been set up on the ground floor of the local Municipal Corporation office for the issuance of No-objection certificates," she said, adding that the maximum expenditure limit is Rs 30 lakh for the election of the Mayor and Rs 7.50 lakh for the municipal councillor.
The Election Officer pointed out that as per the instructions of the State Election Commission, the name of the proposer of the candidate for the election of the Mayor should be registered in the voter list of the Municipal Corporation.
"The name of the proposer of the candidate for the election of the municipal councillor should be registered in the voter list of the ward concerned. The proposer is not required to submit a No-objection certificate," she said.
The Election Officer said that the preparations for the election have been completed and duties assigned to the officials concerned.
