Elections to civic bodies in Punjab likely after four Assembly bypolls
Ruchika M Khanna
Chandigarh, July 11
The elections to the five municipal corporations, zila parishads, panchayat samitis and panchayats in the state are likely to be held after the byelections in four Assembly constituencies. The byelections are expected to be announced soon.
Sources in the state government told The Tribune that since the model code of conduct had ended in the state now after two successive elections — the Lok Sabha poll followed by the Jalandhar bypoll — the government wanted to push through some of its schemes and programmes before the elections to the rural and urban local bodies.
MCs’ tenure had ended last year
- The terms of Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Patiala municipal corporations ended in the beginning of last year
- As many as 41 municipal councils and 13,241 panchayats are also due for polls
- The terms of 23 zila parishads and 150 panchayat samitis will come to an end in November
The schedule for the bypolls in the four Assembly segments of Dera Baba Nanak, Chabbewal, Barnala and Gidderbaha is expected to be announced by the Election Commission of India soon. These elections have been necessitated because of the election of the incumbent MLAs (Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Raj Kumar Chabbewal, Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer and Amrinder Singh Raja Warring) as MPs. The ruling party in Punjab is working on the assumption that these elections will be held simultaneously with the elections to the Haryana Vidhan Sabha, due in September-October this year.
“The state has been under the model code of conduct since March. As a result, the government has not been able to push any development work. The government started functioning normally from today. A number of issues are pending for the Cabinet’s approval, for which a meeting will be held soon. The government cannot go ahead with the poll code for the urban and local civic polls immediately. Thus there is deliberation on holding the elections only after the Assembly bypolls,” said a top functionary in the state, requesting anonymity.
It is learnt that the State Election Commission needs to update the voters’ list with January 1 as the qualifying date. Even the process of delimitation of wards in many places has run into legal hurdles.
The terms of the municipal corporations of Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Patiala ended in the beginning of last year. The elections to the Phagwara Municipal Corporation are to be held for the first time. As many as 41 municipal councils and 13,241 panchayats are also due for polls, while the terms of 23 zila parishads and 150 panchayat samitis will come to an end in November.
During the 2018 civic polls, as many as 1,00,312 persons were elected, which included 41,922 women. After the terms of these Panchayati Raj Institutions came to an end, the government has appointed administrators for running their day-to-day affairs.
Govt wants to push schemes
Sources said since the poll code had ended in the state now after two successive elections — the Lok Sabha poll followed by the Jalandhar bypoll — the government wanted to push through some of its schemes before the elections to the rural and urban local bodies
