Ggn civic polls withheld again by Punjab and Haryana HC

The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) elections are expected to get delayed further as Punjab and Haryana high court again withheld the MCG elections which was earlier slated to be held in March..

In May this year, the high court vacated the stay order on the MCG elections thus paving the way for state government to go ahead with the electoral process.

Hearing the plea on Tuesday on the ward delineation, the double bench of Judges Suryakant and Sudhir Mittal, the court directed the Haryana government to form a high level committee on the division of 35 civic wards in Gurugram.

The court has sent a notice to the government asking high level officials to form a team and submit its report at the earliest. The next date of hearing on the issue is slated to be held on July 31.

Disagreeing on the ward delineation resulted in petitioners namely Bhoop Singh, Qutab Enclave Residents Welfare Association (QERWA), Zile Singh Numberdar and Jagmohan filing a plea at the high court on February 6.

This subsequently resulted in the judiciary placing a stay order on the holding of civic elections in March.

To solve the civic challenges in the city, the MCG was formed in the year 2008. The first MCG elections were held in 2011 and the term of the its councillors ended on May 2016. After a year's delay, the government made an announcement that the MCG elections will be held in March 2017 which has been getting delayed due to the ongoing challenges.

"We are disagreeing on the ward delineation. To suit the political interests the committee formed by the state government adopted tactics like excluding old areas from a ward or addition of new areas.

"This was done to ensure that the councillor loses connect with his voters. Over 70 per cent of the 35 wards have been wrongly delineated," said Gaurav Singla from QERWA, one of the petitioners.

Various political parties like the BJP, Congress, Indian National Lok Dal, Aam Aadmi Party, Swaraj party have expressed their interest to contest in the civic elections.

"Gurugram required an elected municipal body where the problems of the citizens are understood at the ground level. The delay in Municipal Corporation of Gurugram elections in a way is adding to the woes of the citizens," said Suman Sachdeva, a city resident.