Govt conspiring to hijack Panchayat polls, says Himachal BJP chief

Shimla, April 9 Himachal Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Rajeev Bindal, while launching a scathing attack, said on Thursday that the state government under the leadership of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, "is conspiring to hijack the Panchayati Raj and municipal corporation elections in a planned manner".

He added that the Congress government first tried its best to postpone the elections for two years and even took the matter to the Supreme Court.

"When the Honorable Supreme Court clearly ordered that elections be held before May 31, the state government has now resorted to a new game of rigging," Bindal said in a statement here.

He alleged that for the first time in the history of Himachal Pradesh, the reservation roster is being changed like a "juggler's game".

"This is not an election process but the Congress' suitability model where the roster is being decided as per convenience and not rules," he added.

The former State Minister said this entire process "is against the spirit of the Panchayati Raj Act and Article 243D of the Constitution, which clearly provides that reservation and roster will be decided in a transparent manner under a prescribed process and not by changing them repeatedly to balance the electoral equations".

Bindal added that government officials are acting under pressure of Congress leaders and the state government, leading to confusion and tension in villages and neighbourhoods.

"This is not democracy, it's bullying, where rules are being ignored to preserve power," he said.

He noted that lakhs of youth, women and people from different sections of society, who want to serve in the Panchayats, have become disappointed and frustrated with the constantly changing roster.

"The Congress clearly sees that the people have made up their mind to oust them (Congress) from power, so now they (Congress) are trying to hijack the election process itself," he said.

The State BJP Chief warned that the party would not allow this "anti-democratic conspiracy" to succeed at any cost and would continue to expose the state government by raising this issue from streets to the courts.

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