Opposition slams Himachal Government over Urban Local Body election delay

BJP opposition today accused the government of trying to defer elections to all urban local bodies in the state in the garb of OBC reservation considering the public sentiment being against Congress regime.

The Opposition legislators today registered their strong protest against the amendment of the Himachal Pradesh Municipal (Amendment) Bill 2025, introduced by Urban Development Minister Vikramaditya Singh in the House on Thursday. The reason cited for the amendment in the Act is to facilitate deferment of the elections in the newly constituted urban local bodies (ULB) for a period up to two years due to lack of basic infrastructure like staff, office space and financial resources.

The amendment was passed by voice vote amidst protests from the Opposition. The Speaker, Kuldeep Pathania, put the amendment to voting, and it was approved despite strong opposition from BJP legislators. Many opposition MLA's demanded that these ULB's must be de-notified as they had been created against public sentiment and protests by the local people.

Panchayati Raj Minister Anirudh Singh addressed the concerns echoed by the Opposition, stating that the urban population is growing rapidly and there is an urgent need to regulate haphazard construction activity. He cited the increase in urban population to 9.16 lakh in 2024, a 60% rise compared to 2012. Singh assured that there is no constitutional violation in the amendment and that similar deferments have been done in other states like Haryana, Assam, and Maharashtra.

The Minister said the survey of OBC population was done on November 4, 2010, only for rural areas, leaving out the urban areas. “We do not want there should be injustice with the OBC's so the survey is underway,” he said.

Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur claimed that the state government is violating constitutional norms and that the amendment will not withstand legal scrutiny. "It is shocking that the state government created three municipal corporations, three Nagar Parishad, and 17 Nagar Panchayats against public sentiment," Thakur said.  

"In the first place, these should be de-notified as they were created on irrational considerations. If you are rigid and adamant on your decision then why are you running away from holding elections," said Naina Devi MLA Randhir Sharma.

Una MLA Satpal Singh Satti said seeing the public mood against the Congress regime, it is apprehended that the state government is preparing ground to postpone elections to all urban local bodies in the state in the garb of OBC reservation.

Sundernagar MLA Rakesh Jamwal, Barsar MLA ID Lakhanpal, Bilaspur MLA Trilok Jamwsal ,Churah MLA Hans Raj, Balh MLA Inder Gandhi, Sarkaghat MLA Daleep Thakur and Hamirpur MLA Ashish Sharma also registered their opposition to the amendment.