Panchayat polls after restoring road connectivity, says Himachal CM

Shimla, Oct 10 (PTI) Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Friday said the panchayati raj elections have not been cancelled and would be held once road connectivity is restored.

"Our priority is to provide relief to the disaster-hit people whose houses have been completely or partially damaged and give compensation to the victims," he told reporters here.

"BJP leaders are making planned attempts to malign my image," Sukhu alleged.

His charge came a day after the elections were postponed, a move that the opposition BJP termed a "pre-planned, anti-people act".

The panchayati raj elections in the state were scheduled to be held between December and January 2026. The last date for conducting the elections is January 23.

Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Anirudh Singh had said that if connectivity is restored by December-January, the elections would be held on schedule.

In a notification issued on Thursday, Chief Secretary and chairman of the State Executive Committee Sanjay Gupta had announced that the polls will be held "only after restoration of proper connectivity", considering the damage to roads and private and public property.

The notification pointed out that massive damage was caused during the monsoons this year. From June to September, 47 cloudbursts, 98 flash floods, and 148 major landslides were reported in the state, and 270 people died in rain-related incidents, it said.

As many as 1,817 houses were fully damaged, and 8,323 houses were partially damaged during the natural calamities. The total loss was pegged at Rs 5,426 crore.

Due to the continued rainfall, the respective deputy commissioners were unable to connect panchayat roads, the notification added.

The BJP leaders in the state accused the Congress government of being reluctant to "face people" due to its poor performance and failure to implement its poll promises.

"The Congress government is aware that its massive defeat is pre-decided, and hence postponed the elections on the pretext of natural calamity," said Leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur.

The elections to urban local bodies were postponed at the last moment earlier as well, he added.

The former chief minister also alleged that everything was scripted.

"First, letters were written by deputy commissioners and elections were deferred soon after," Thakur said, asking the government to hold the polls and face the people.

State BJP president Rajiv Bindal called the postponement of the polls a well-planned, anti-people decision, as the Congress knows that it "would draw a blank and all its pradhans will be defeated".

"The Congress party talks about saving democracy, but in reality, it is working to harm the biggest festival of democracy. This move clearly demonstrates that the Congress is evading democratic norms," he added.

Responding to the allegations, the chief minister said the BJP, which is divided into five factions (under J P Nadda, Jai Ram Thakur, Anurag Thakur, Rajiv Bindal, and Harsh Mahajan), has made it a policy to oppose everything and divert the attention of the public.

He added that the opposition party in the aftermath of the 2023 monsoon disaster, had raised its voice to convene a Vidhan Sabha session, and when a debate on the disaster was brought up in the House, the BJP leaders walked out and "did not stand with the affected people".

Meanwhile, addressing the media persons here on Friday, the BJP state media incharge Randhir Sharma said the current Congress government is violating democratic norms by postponing panchayati raj institutions and urban body elections.

Earlier, new urban local bodies were created and elections were supposed to be held within six months but the Congress government passed an ordinance and amended the Act to extend elections from six months to two years, he said.

Entering the argument, Education Minister Rohit Thakur in a statement issued here said that that the BJP has displayed double standards, as they themselves had delayed Corporation elections by a year in 2022. The elections were deferred in many other states under BJP rule for various reasons, he added.

Yet, the BJP chooses to ignore such contexts while criticizing the Congress government, he said and added that the decision to defer elections was made in consideration of citizen safety and the approaching harsh winter. PTI BPL ZMN