Shimla civic body election campaign ends on high note
The municipal corporation poll will be held on June 16
SHIMLA: The campaigning for the Shimla municipal corporation (MC) election, which seemingly remained a low-key affair, ended on a high note with political bigwigs such as chief minister Virbhadra Singh and his bête noire former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal resorting to power-packed electioneering hours before the campaign came to end on Wednesday.
Congress had deputed its 10 ministers into the poll campaign in different wards while the saffron party deputed former ministers and senior leaders for the election campaign.
Shimla MC has stakes in Shimla (rural) and Kasumpati assembly segments with 18 wards falling under Shimla urban, 12 under Kasumpati and four under Shimla rural.
There are 34 BJP-supported candidates while Congress and communists are not supporting candidates in all the wards.
Union health minister JP Nadda had addressed a couple of public meeting in Shimla last week.
Congress party has chief minister Virbhadra Singh as a star campaigner. He is expected to address public meetings in a few wards of Shimla MC. Congress leaders said many candidates want Virbhadra as the star campaigner in their respective wards.
Candidates being supported by Communist Party of India – Marxist (CPI-M) are engaging in door-to-door campaigning but hold no plan to engage national leaders like in the last polls. Last year, elections for mayor and deputy mayor were held directly.
During the last elections, CPIM had won the mayor and deputy mayor seats while Congress and BJP had an almost equal number of councillors in the house of 25.
After delimitation, numbers of wards were increased to 34, of which, 17 are reserved for women.
The mayor’s seat is reserved for scheduled-caste female candidate.
The MC election will be held on June 16 and campaigning was closed at 4pm on Wednesday.
DHUMAL HITS POLL GROUND
On the last day of campaigning for the MC election, former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal staged a road show in the Lower Bazar and also campaigned in Totu and Dhali Tunnel area.
Dhumal urged people to vote for BJP-supported candidates. On the last day of campaigning,
while addressing a press conference here, he said the party supported candidates if voted to power, will resolve water crisis and parking issues.
“Shimla MC was ruled by Congress and CPI-M for 31 years and there are ample of problems. Congress and CPI-M have failed to provide basic facilities to people of Shimla,” he said.
Dhumal blamed the Congress and communists for Shimla missing the smart city tag.
“This is a competition but state government and communistruled corporation have failed to make Shimla qualify for being a smart city,” he said.
PEOPLE KNOW WHAT WE DID IN FIVE YEARS: CPI-M
Former deputy mayor and CPI-M leader Tikender Singh Panwar said, “The party was instrumental in engaging with the problem and was instrumental in the formation of Greater Shimla Water Supply and Sewerage Circle (GSWSSC)”.