Dharamsala mayoral poll today

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, December 1

Elections to the posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor of the Dharamsala Municipal Corporation (MC) will be held on December 2. Kangra Deputy Commissioner Nipun Jindal issued a notification regarding the elections. The Mayor's post is reserved for a woman member of the House.

Cong appoints Bali as in-charge

• The Congress has appointed RS Bali as in-charge of the mayoral election, ignoring Dharamsala MLA Sudhir Sharma
• Outgoing Mayor Onkar Nehra finished his tenure last month
• The BJP spokesperson said the party was confident that its candidate would win both posts as party stands united

The BJP, having 10 of 17 members, enjoys a majority in the MC while the Congress has six councillors and one member is Independent, a Congress rival. Outgoing Mayor Onkar Nehria is also from the BJP. The Congress has made RS Bali, Chairman of the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC), as in-charge for the mayoral election, ignoring Dharamsala MLA Sudhir Sharma.

The sources said that Sharma was not given the responsibility of the mayoral election as a majority of Congress councillors in the Dharamsala MC belongs to his rival group. “The Congress is a divided house in the MC. The Congress members are not happy with the party over the nomination of members to the House from their wards,” they added.

A senior Congress member said the government should have nominated members from wards represented by the BJP. However, they created a division in the party by nominating members from the wards of sitting Congress councillors, he added.

As per the Municipal Corporation Act of Himachal, the tenure of a Mayor is two and a half years. In Dharamsala, outgoing Mayor Onkar Nehra finished his tenure last month. He belongs to the Scheduled Tribes (ST) category and as per the reservation roster issued by the Himachal Government, the next Mayor will be a woman. Three of the six Congress members are women and they are set to vie for he mayoral post.

Meanwhile, the BJP is confident that its candidate will win the mayoral election. BJP spokesperson Sanjay Sharma said the BJP members were united and the party would win both posts.

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