E-Paper
Four MC, six nagar panchayats in Himachal go to polls on April 7
Counting soon after polling ends in Dharamshala, Mandi, Palampur and Solan; MC elections on party symbols this time
Four municipal corporations of Dharamshala, Mandi, Palampur and Solan besides six nagar panchayats will go the polls on April 7.
Issuing the notification on Saturday, Himachal Pradesh state election commissioner P Mitra said voting will take place from 8am to 4pm and counting of votes will begin immediately after polling ends.
The process of filing nominations will start on March 22 and end on March 24. The scrutiny of papers will be done on March 25 and candidates can withdraw their nomination by March 27.
The municipal corporation elections are being fought on party symbols this time. The state assembly had passed a Bill in this regard recently.
With the announcement of the poll schedule, the model code of conduct has come into force within the municipal areas of the four towns. The code will be in force till the completion of the poll process.
While the Dharamshala Municipal Corporation was formed in 2015, the three other civic bodies were upgraded to municipal corporation from municipal council last year.
The six nagar panchayats are Chirgaon and Nerwa in Shimla district, Ani and Nirmand in Kullu, Kandaghat in Solan and Amb in Una. The nagar panchayats were also created last year but elections couldn’t be held there along with elections for other urban local bodies in January.
CM blows poll bugle in Dharamshala
On Saturday morning, chief minister Jai Ram Thakur met BJP ward heads and in-charges for Dharamshala Municipal Corporation to chalk out the poll strategy.
Addressing the meeting, Thakur said party workers would discharge whatever responsibility the party entrusts them with to ensure the BJP’s victory in all 17 wards of Dharamshala.
Thakur said the election is for a local body, so local issues will remain prominent, but workers should also propagate policies and achievements of the state government among the people.
He said party officials, in-charges and workers should keep an account of the problems of the wards so that they can be resolved. He said corruption in the Congress-ruled municipal corporation and failure to carry out development works despite the town having the smart city tag would be the poll plank of the BJP.
