Uncertainty looms over Punjab civic bodies elections
Deepkamal Kaur
Jalandhar, November 14
It was in January this year that the term of the Municipal Corporation House of Amritsar and Jalandhar got over. In Patiala, the term was over in December 2022. In Ludhiana, the MC House has ceased to function since March this year. The tenure of Phagwara MC councillors had got over way back in March 2020.
No delay from our side
The elections are expected to be held by mid-December. There is no delay from our side. Ward delimitation work is over. It is for the Election Commission to make the announcement. — Balkar Singh, Local Bodies Minister
The elections for the five Municipal Corporations and 39 Municipal Councils were earlier slated to be held before November 15 but the deadline is also over. Still there is no word on when the MC polls could be held now.
Even as there had been some activity around last month as several ex-councillors of the BJP and the Congress had switched over to the ruling Aam Aadmi Party so as to improve their prospects, but again there has been lull.
On the delay, ex-Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia said, “This is a completely inexperienced government. Even the ministers work with a remote control and they do not know how to handle their departments. They only know dramebaazi. They perhaps are waiting for some suitable time to hold MC elections. They work on the principle ‘no work-no mistake’.”
Three-time Congress MC councillor from Jalandhar Jasleen Sethi said, “Since there is no MC House working in any of the big cities of Punjab, the development has come to a standstill in all big cities. No big projects in the city can be passed till the House is formed. The state government is perhaps saving a huge money which was to be doled out as salaries of the councillors.”
Local Bodies Minister Balkar Singh hinted that the elections were expected to be held by mid-December. “There is no delay from our side. Ward delimitation work is over. It is for the Election Commission to make the announcement”, he said.
