Municipal polls likely to be delayed in Jharkhand
Ranchi, March 24: Jharkhand government has made it clear that municipal elections will be held with OBC reservation.
This was in reply to a question raised by Jamshedpur West JD-U MLA Saryu Roy.
“After completing the process of triple test in Jharkhand, elections will be held in 48 municipal bodies along with OBC reservation,” replied minister Sudivya Kumar Sonu in response to Saryu Rai’s short notice question on March 24 in the Assembly.
The minister said that except Ranchi, Koderma and Deoghar, the work of door-to-door survey under triple test has been completed in the remaining 21 districts. The commission’s team is visiting the areas to review the received report.
Saryu Roy asked that during the hearing on the contempt case on January 16, 2025, the state government had sought four months’ time to conduct municipal elections. This period is going to end very soon. Above all, the post of chairman is also vacant in the Backward Classes Commission. Does the government want to conduct elections within the time limit even without fixing reservation for backward classes in the civic elections?
In response to this, Sudivya Kumar Sonu made it clear that the government is committed to conduct civic elections along with OBC reservation. At the same time, a request has been made to the welfare department on 13 January 2025 for the appointment of the chairman of the Backward Classes Commission.
Meanwhile, BJP MLA Naveen Jaiswal asked under the information whether the government will conduct civic elections by giving reservation to OBCs before 16 May 2025 or not. Because this is a case of contempt.
Sudivya Kumar Sonu said that due to circumstances, this state has seen the civic elections without OBC reservation.
“Everyone knows that the central government stops the grant if the elections are not held. The same happened during the Panchayat elections. Now the government has stopped the money of the finance commission due to the non-conduct of municipal elections. Therefore, if the triple test report of three districts comes before the next hearing on May 16, then civic elections will be conducted within the stipulated time period following the reservation roster,” said Sudivya Kumar Sonu.
If this is not possible, then some more time will be sought from the court citing OBC representation. It is clear from this that there is every possibility of delay in the civic elections.
There are a total of nine municipal corporations in this list where elections are pending. These include Ranchi, Hazaribagh, Medininagar, Dhanbad, Giridih, Deoghar, Chas, Adityapur and Mango Municipal Corporations.
The number of municipal councils is 20 where elections are to be held. These include Garhwa, Bishrampur, Chaibasa, Jhumri Tilaiya, Chakradharpur, Chatra, Chirkunda, Dumka, Pakur, Godda, Gumla, Jugsalai, Kapali, Lohardaga, Simdega, Madhupur, Ramgarh, Sahibganj, Phusro and Mihijam Municipal Councils.
Apart from this, elections are to be held in 19 Nagar Panchayats. These include Banshidhar Nagar, Majhiaon, Hussainabad, Hariharganj, Chhatarpur, Latehar, Koderma, Domchanch, Badki Saraiya, Dhanwar, Mahagama, Rajmahal, Barharwa, Basukinath, Jamtara, Bundu, Khunti, Saraikela and Chakulia.
