"Non-performance of Congress govt in Shimla will give mandate in BJP's favour": Suresh Bhardwaj on civic body polls

Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) [India], May 2 (ANI): Ahead of the Shimla Municipal Corporation polls, BJP leader Suresh Bhardwaj said that achievements and commitments of BJP will give mandate in favour of the party in the civic polls.
Both BJP and the ruling Congress Party have exuded confidence in winning the civic body polls.
According to Bhardwaj, Shimla had undergone historic development in the past five years.
"People of the city understand that during the past five years, Shimla city had undergone historic development. Roads, parking, shops, tunnels and water supply schemes were built in a record time of 9 months. We also started an Rs 1831 crore worth scheme for water supply but Congress did not do anything since 1986," he said.
He mentioned that Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu earlier as an MLA had appreciated the development done by BJP.
"Congress did not fulfil the promises made to the people of the state. Now people are asking 'Sukhu Bhai 10 guarantee kuthu paai'. We have installed 19,000 electricity connections without any NOC in the city during our regime and they have increased the electricity charges," said Suresh Bhardwaj.
He said that BJP accelerated the development of smart city projects in Shimla.
"We have accelerated the development in Shimla city. The Congress government did not do anything to develop Shimla. The government which has already been elected in the state, will not have any impact on the civic body poll. The garbage bill of traders in Shimla money was waived off during the Covid-19," he added.
He said that the elections were deferred due to legal matters and now the congress party is trying to influence the polls and the election commission is defunct. It was to be scheduled for June 18, 2022
"Due to the state from the court these polls were deferred, We had constituted 41wards after delimitation. They reduced it to 34. Khallini, Kangnadhar and Dhali Upper are more than double the other wards. They want to win it and reconstituted it again back to 34. They just amended the Act and delimitation was done as per their requirement. Entire government machinery is being misused. They failed to provide the honorarium of 1500 per month to women has not been fulfilled, Bhardwaj added.
A total of 93920 voters will participate for 34 wards of Municipal Corporation Shimla. There are 49759 male and 44161 female voters in this. In these 34 wards, a maximum of 4161 voters are in Vikas Nagar, Ward No. 29 while a minimum of 1166 voters are in Ward No. 25, Malyana.
149 polling stations have been set up for the election of 34 wards of Municipal Corporation Shimla, and 4 auxiliary polling stations have also been set up for 4 wards, Lower Dhalli, Vikasnagar, Kangnadhar and New Shimla.
153 polling teams have been appointed for the general election of Shimla Municipal Corporation, in which about 1000 polling personnel and security personnel are included. Out of 149 polling stations, 10 polling stations have been declared highly sensitive, 40 sensitive and 99 polling stations normal. The State Election Commission has instructed the Returning Officer and Deputy Commissioner, Shimla, that webcasting of the polling process should be done at highly sensitive and sensitive polling stations so that polling can be conducted smoothly.
Apart from this, 2119 voters will participate in the bye-elections being conducted for Ward No. 2 of Palampur Municipal Corporation, out of which 1090 are male and female.
There are 1029 women voters. The polling will be held on May 2, 2023, from 8 am to 4 pm. Counting of votes for Municipal Corporation Shimla and Palampur will be done from 10 am on May 4, 2023, while counting of votes of ward members of other urban bodies, Nagar Panchayat Jwali, District Kangra and Nagar Panchayat Rajgarh, District Sirmaur will start immediately after polling ends. Later it will be done at Nagar Panchayat Headquarters
Similarly, polling for the bye-elections of Panchayati Raj Institutions will also be held on May 2, 2023, from 8 am to 4 pm. 23896 voters Will participate in the by-election being conducted for Ward No. 17 of Una Zilla Parishad.
Out of which 11988 are male and 11908 are female voters. The counting of the votes of Panchayat Pradhan, Up-Pradhan and members will be done at the Gram Panchayat headquarters immediately after the end of polling while the votes of Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti will be counted at 9 am on May 04, 2023 at the concerned block headquarters.
The State Election Commission appealed to all the voters of the concerned areas to take part in the polling. (ANI)