Govt ‘misleading’ court over civic polls: BJP

IT SAID CHAMPAI GOVERNMENT SHOULD CLARIFY THE DELAY IN HOLDING URBAN LOCAL BODY POLLS

RANCHI: The BJP on Tuesday alleged that the JMM-led coalition government in Jharkhand was “trying to mislead” the court over civic body elections and sought clarification about the delay in conducting the municipal polls in the state.

Leader of opposition in the assembly Amar Bauri claimed that the “government’s plea to further delay” the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) elections was rejected by the High Court on Monday.

“The government is trying to mislead the court through false affidavit so that the election could be delayed,” he alleged during a press conference in Ranchi.The Jharkhand High Court on Monday refused to entertain the state government’s plea to challenge the January 4 order of a single judge directing it to hold civic elections and notify the dates of polls within three weeks.

The last civic elections were conducted in April 2018 and the term of the councilors lapsed in 2023.

“The elections to 48 ULBs have been pending in Jharkhand since April last year. The state government knew that it could hold the election only after conducting the triple tests. But, it took no initiative to hold triple tests,” Bauri said.

One of the “triple tests” includes setting up a dedicated commission to conduct an inquiry into the nature and implications of the backwardness in connection with local bodies.The second condition is to specify the proportion of reservation required to be provisioned in local bodies as per the commission’s recommendations.The third test is that the reservation in favour of SCs, STs, and OBCs together should not exceed 50 per cent of total seats.

“The government is reluctant to hold civic body elections so that it can control ULB areas and indulge in corruption,” Bauri alleged.

The BJP had also raised the issue of ULB polls during the budget session of the assembly and the government had then replied that the civic body polls would be conducted after the submission of a report by the state commission for backward classes.

Bauri said the Champai Soren government should clarify the delay in holding the urban local body polls. “I would also like to advise the CM to restrain from filing false affidavits in the court,” he added.