Shimla MC elections unlikely before March

Shimla, September 27

The Shimla Municipal Corporation elections are unlikely to be held before March next year. Not only the delimitation objections, which delayed the elections in the first place, are yet to be resolved, but the announcement of code of conduct for the Assembly elections is also around the corner.

“Once the code of conduct is announced, it’s highly unlikely that the MC elections will be held,” said an official requesting anonymity. “The district administration will get busy with the preparations for Assembly elections. So, they will hardly have time for MC elections,” the official said.

The other reason that is likely to push the MC elections at least till March is the approaching winters, and the migration of a huge chunk of the population residing within the city limits to their native places.

“Most of the educational institutions shut down by the first week of December, and a large number of people move back to their native places. Only around 30 to 40 per cent people are in the city during the winters. So holding elections at that time would not make much of a sense,” the official said.

The MC elections were scheduled for mid-June, but the objections over delimitation in two wards – Nabha and Boileauganj – saw the polls getting caught in legal tangle and getting delayed. The objections are still unresolved – the High Court has directed the Deputy Commissioner, Shimla, second time to settle the matter in accordance with law. As and when the matter is resolved, the state election commission will require roughly around a month to prepare voters list in the five wards under contention.

Political parties have been accusing each other for this stalemate. Perhaps no party wanted to run the risk of losing the crucial Shimla MC elections ahead of the Assembly elections, fearing an adverse impact on the bigger polls.

Code of conduct

Once the code of conduct is announced, it’s highly unlikely that the MC elections will be held. The district administration will get busy with the preparations for Assembly elections. So, they will hardly have time for MC elections. An official