Municipal corporation elections may soon begin in Gurugram

Gurugram: Being delayed for more than a year, the state government is interested in not prolonging the date further for the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram elections (MCG). The state public officials have begun the process of completing the formalities that have been set by the high court so that the election can be held within a month or two.

On Thursday, a list of reserved ward for candidates from women and scheduled castes were revealed. Based on the sources the dates for the elections may soon be revealed.

To solve the civic challenges in the city, MCG was formed in 2008. The first MCG elections were held in 2011. After the term of the MCG councillors ended on May 2016, a year later it was announced that the MCG elections will be held in March 2017 which has been getting delayed due to the ongoing challenges.

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 Haryana and Punjab High Court on February 6.

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

Various political parties like Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Indian National Congress, Indian National Lok Dal, Aam Aadmi Party, Swaraj party have expressed their interest to contest in the civic elections. Most of the parties have also begun the process of selecting respective councilors for the wards.

"Gurugram required an elected municipal body where the problems of the citizens are understood at the ground level. There are lot of problems in the city that needs to be addressed on urgent basis. A strong municipal body with elected councillors is one of the basis requirement for the development of the city," said Sushma Sachdeva, a city resident.