Delimitation of wards incomplete, leaders expect delay in Patiala MC poll

Tribune News Service

Ravneet Singh

Patiala, December 4

With only 48 days to go before the term of the present Municipal Corporation House comes to an end, the authorities concerned are yet to complete the survey of voters for the coming civic body elections.

Councillorspeak

Given the progress of the delimitation exercise, the elections will have to be held as per the previous wards or there will be a delay in the elections. Anil Modgil, Ward 24 Councillor

The Local Government Department issued a notification on June 1, ordering the completion of the survey, but six months later, it is still incomplete.

Political leaders are expecting a month’s delay in the elections.

The MC office has appointed more than 200 individuals, including junior engineers, inspectors from various wings, SDOs and others, for the task.

An MC official said, “The office had submitted the lists to the state government, but the number of voters fell short of the previous count, therefore, we are now re-verifying the voter count.”

Advocate Harvinder Shukla, Ward 2 councillor said, “The counting and verification of the voters is still going on. The question is when will the state government hold the elections. Last time the elections were held in December and the office-bearers were elected in January. The government needs to complete the work in a time-bound manner, issue the notification and carry out the elections.”

Anil Modgil, Ward 24 councillor, said, “According to the progress of the ward delimitation exercise, the elections will have to be held as per the previous wards or there will be a delay in the elections.”

The term of the current MC house will expire on January 22. “After that, the command of the office will be transferred from the elected representatives in the house to the MC Commissioner. We feel the government wants to delay the elections to gather public support,” a councillor said.

MC Town Planner Naresh Kumar, the nodal officer for the survey, said the re-verification of voters will be completed in a week. He said, “The final report will be submitted to the state government for the further process.”

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