New Delhi: A political controversy has broken out in the hill state of Himachal Pradesh after the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led Congress government granted voting rights to MLAs for mayoral polls.
The Opposition BJP has accused the party of mustering a majority by giving “unconstitutional voting rights to MLAs in the middle of the election process” and plans to take the matter to court.
Himachal has five municipal corporations — Shimla, Palampur, Mandi, Solan and Dharamshala. The term of mayor and deputy mayor is for two-and-a-half years, after which fresh elections are held.
The mayor and deputy mayor have completed their tenure in all corporations except Shimla.
The election notification was issued on 21 November for mayoral polls in Palampur (24 November) and Mandi (25 November), while the schedule for Solan and Dharamshala is not yet out.
Congress-backed candidates Gopal Nag and Raj Kumar were elected as mayor and deputy mayor, respectively, in Palampur, where the MLA belongs to the Congress. In Mandi, the BJP retained the posts of mayor and deputy mayor. The MLA here belongs to the party.
The row started on 23 November, when the government stated in a communication regarding the amendment to Himachal Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act, 1994, that “members of the Legislative Assembly, who are ex-officio councillors in a municipal corporation, have the same voting rights as other councillors”.
Speaking to ThePrint, Himachal BJP president Rajeev Bindal termed the award of voting rights to MLAs as “murder of democracy”.
“How come the government can issue a communication for change in rules in the middle of the election? If the government wants to amend a law, it has to be amended through the state assembly. The session is due and the change can be done, but not once notification for elections has been announced,” he said. “Voting rights have been allowed through the back door and we are consulting legal minds to approach courts on the matter.”
In protest, BJP MLAs did not participate in the mayoral elections in Mandi and Palampur, party sources said.
The BJP is now worried about the Dharamshala municipal polls, where the party-backed mayor has completed his tenure and the Congress is aiming to elect its own candidate.
As of now, the Congress controls the municipal bodies of Shimla, Solan and Palampur while the BJP has majority in Mandi and Dharamshala.
BJP MLA Rakesh Jamwal told ThePrint: “The Congress government first asked the district collector and the law department about the voting rights of MLAs. District officials said the existing law has no provision of allowing MLAs to vote and even their own department counselled against it, but the chief minister has gone against these opinions. We are challenging the matter in court.”
Former BJP mayor of Dharamshala, Onkar Nehria, said: “There is chance of manipulation in Dharamshala if the Congress manages to lure independents and the MLA (Sudhir Sharma) casts his vote.”
The Congress, for its part, has defended its communication and termed its linkage to the elections as wrong interpretation of law.
Himachal cabinet minister Harshwardhan Chauhan told ThePrint: “It (voting rights to MLAs) is not a new addition. Since the MLAs were demanding a say in the election process, we asked the law department whether it can be done for the municipal corporations. It gave the opinion that the same was already in practice for smaller municipalities and nagar panchayat polls.”
The Congress’ own Dharamshala MLA has, however, opposed the decision of giving voting rights to legislators in mayoral polls.
“It’s my personal opinion that voting rights to MLAs for mayoral polls is not appropriate. Tomorrow, MPs can be given voting rights in assembly. There is a clear demarcation of duties. MLAs can give suggestions to councillors, but giving them voting rights in election of mayor and deputy mayor doesn’t look appropriate,” Sharma told ThePrint.
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How the numbers stack
In Palampur, the Congress had won 11 of 15 wards in the municipal polls held in 2021, while the BJP and Independents won two each. In Mandi in 2021, the BJP had won 11 of 15 wards while the Congress won the rest.
In the previous election in Solan, the Congress won nine of 17 wards, the BJP seven and an independent candidate one. The mayor here is backed by the Congress. However, the Congress has been experiencing infighting here, giving the BJP hope that a few councillors may exit the party and help them secure this municipal corporation.
In Dharamshala, out of 17 seats, the BJP previously won eight, the Congress five and Independents four. However, in the 2022 Himachal assembly elections, the BJP lost Dharamshala constituency to Congress’ Sudhir Sharma.
While the BJP currently controls the Dharamshala municipal body with support of two Independents, if the Congress gets support from three Independents and one MLA vote, it can wrest the body from the BJP.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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