With the election for the Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC), one of the country’s oldest municipalities, slated for May 2, the ruling Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are all set for a direct fight even as electioneering for the poll gains momentum.
The Shimla Municipal Corporation has traditionally been a Congress stronghold and is riding high on confidence, following the party’s win in the recently held Assembly election in Himachal Pradesh. The Congress is banking on the ‘anti-incumbency’ factor to work against the BJP, which won majority seats in the year 2017 to gain control of the Shimla MC.
Also read: Congress wrests Himachal Pradesh from BJP
The Congress party is also optimistic about garnering support by showcasing its work done in the past four months since it came to power in the State.
The BJP, on the other hand, is harping on the development work done under its regime in Shimla, the capital of Himachal Pradesh. The BJP leaders, during their election campaign are also targeting the Congress party, accusing its government in the State of misleading the people surrounding fulfilling the ‘guarantees’ promised in the run up to the 2022 Assembly poll.
Prestige issue
The task for the BJP to retain its hold over the Shimla Municipal Corporation though, is not an easy one with the Congress steering on the momentum of its recent Assembly win. Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, who is leading Congress’s campaign from the front, has himself remained councillor from one of the wards twice, during the early days of his political career. The election has become a matter of prestige not just for the party but for the Chief Minister as well.
The polling for the 34 seats (wards) in the Shimla MC will be held on May 2, and votes will be counted on May 4. Even as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and CPI(M) have fielded candidates in certain wards, the electoral battle is largely being seen between the Congress and the BJP.
As the fight to wrest power from the BJP goes on, senior Congress leader Naresh Chauhan on April 25 told The Hindu that the BJP during its rule, had miserably failed to address the problems of people in Shimla, and hence its ouster from the Municipal Corporation had been sealed.
“Shimla is plagued with several problems be it traffic congestion, inadequate parking for vehicles, water scarcity, etc. The BJP in the past five years, did not take any concrete steps to solve the problems of the people. Even though Shimla was included in the ‘Smart City’ list, the problems continue to persist. They only fooled the people of Shimla and now people have made up their minds to throw them out of the MC,” he said.
Mr. Chauhan said the Congress would work to solve all the problems in the city, and with the four-month-old Congress government already starting to fulfil its pre-poll promises, the people have generated a sense of trust towards the Congress.
“Immediately after coming to power, the Congress government restored the old pension scheme (OPS) for government employees. We also decided to pay a monthly pension of ₹1,500 per month to 2.31 lakh women, and recently the Cabinet gave the nod for making attics habitable. These decisions have proved that the Congress, in a short span of time, is working aggressively to fulfil its election ‘guarantees’,” he said.
The BJP, meanwhile, is targeting the Congress on its work during the four-month rule. Former Chief Minister Jairam Thakur said the Congress was misleading the public on the pre-poll guarantees and not fulfilling the promises.
Mr. Thakur asserted that in the backdrop of ‘Smart City’, the face of Shimla city had changed and the majority needs of the city dwellers were also fulfilled during the BJP regime.
“Even though Shimla was included in the ‘Smart City’ list, the problems continue to persist”Sukhvinder Singh SukhuHimachal Pradesh Chief Minister
