The Shimla Municipal Corporation elections, which were delayed by 11 months due to the pandemic, began on Tuesday in 34 wards. According to officials, more than 43% of the electorate cast their votes till 2 pm despite morning rain.
The civic body’s five-year term ended in June 2022, and the results of the elections, which are being held on party symbols, will be declared on Thursday.
The ruling Congress and the BJP are the main rivals in these elections, and both parties have fielded candidates from all 34 wards. AAP and CPI(M) candidates are contesting from 21 and four seats, respectively.
Of the 34 wards in the civic body’s jurisdiction, 50% are reserved for women. Six wards are reserved for Scheduled Castes, including three for women. The remaining 14 wards are unreserved. The BJP and the Congress have fielded women candidates from 23 and 18 wards, respectively.
According to State Election Commission data, 93,920 voters are registered to exercise their franchise in the elections. These include 49,759 male and 44,161 female voters. Vikas Nagar ward has the maximum number of voters at 4,161, while Malyana has the lowest at 1,166.
The Congress is upbeat about its chances after victory in the Himachal Pradesh assembly elections in December and is banking on its performance over the past five months to get over the line. The BJP, on the other hand, is banking on the performance of the outgoing Shimla Municipal Corporation board, which it governed from 2017 to 2022.
The Shimla Municipal Corporation constitutes areas of three assembly segments — Shimla (Urban), Shimla (Rural) and Kusumpti. All three segments are currently represented by Congress MLAs, two of whom are ministers in the state cabinet.
The major election issues are 24×7 water supply, new parking facilities, widening of roads, and controlling the drugs menace. All the major parties have promised to make Shimla green and drugs-free and solve the traffic congestion issue by constructing parking lots. The Congress has promised to introduce policies for the regularisation of multi-storey buildings and a uniform tax regime for both old and merged areas. The BJP has promised, among others, 40,000 litres of free water to every household a month and a ‘One Nigam, One Tax’ policy.
Despite the pandemic and morning rain, voters turned out in significant numbers, making the Shimla Municipal Corporation elections a closely contested affair.
