Shimla: Amid an escalating rift with the State Election Commission (SEC), the ruling Congress on Wednesday came under fire from the BJP, which slammed the government for postponing Panchayat polls in what it termed a serious constitutional violation.
The BJP lost no time in tabling an adjournment motion in the state Assembly on the opening day of the winter session at Dharamshala.
Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania allowed an adjournment motion moved by BJP MLAs led by Randhir Sharma after Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu offered to debate the issue, yet asserted that the Congress was not running away from the polls.
The CM said the government was prepared for a “healthy, fact-based discussion,” asserting that there was no attempt to avoid debate on the issue.
Earlier to this, the leader of the Opposition, Jairam Thakur, speaking in the House, hit out at Chief Minister Sukhu for deliberately deferring the polls and termed the situation like the Emergency in 1975 . He said that when the Panchayat elections could be held during the COVID-19 time under his chief ministerial term, what is the problem now, when the situation has normalised after the monsoon calamities?
He said the government realised that holding the Panchayat elections would not be in its favour, and it started taking the pretext of disaster to delay the polls. The government is trying to postpone the Panchayat elections due to fear of defeat. Postponing things doesn’t improve them; they get worse. The Chief Minister should develop the habit of facing situations.
Initiating the discussion, Randhir Sharma accused the Congress government of acting against public interest by attempting to defer the polls despite the State Election Commission’s readiness to conduct them on time. The govt’s actions had created an unnecessary confrontation with the Commission.
He also referred to the Cabinet decision taken on Monday to hold the reorganisation of Panchayats. This is a clear infringement of the electoral process. The move has come after the State Election Commission decided to freeze the boundaries of the Panchayats under a notification on November 17 that there can’t be changes to the structure, classification, or boundaries of Panchayats and municipalities.