Shimla Municipal Corporation Election Today: Litmus test as Cong looks to regain control; for BJP a battle of prestige

The elections are being held on party symbols and the results will be declared on Thursday.

The five-year term of the MC had ended in June 2022 but the elections could not be held due to court cases which challenged delimitation of wards. The previous BJP government had increased the number of wards from 34 to 41. A month after it came to power, the Congress government in January this year took the ordinance route and abolished the seven new wards.

In the 2017 elections, the BJP wrested the civic body from the Congress for the first time in 32 years, winning 17 wards. The Congress won from 12 wards, the CPI(M) from one and Independents from four.

According to State Election Commission, 93,920 voters, comprising 49,759 males and 44,161 females, are eligible to vote in the May 2 elections for which 153 polling booths have been set up in the 34 wards. Half of the wards are reserved for women. Six wards are reserved for Scheduled Castes, including three for women.

While the BJP has fielded woman candidates from 23 wards, the Congress has done it in 18. The two parties are contesting from all 34 wards. The AAP and CPI(M) have fielded candidates from 21 and four seats, respectively. At least nine Independents, including Congress rebel and former Shimla mayor Sohan Lal (Krishan Nagar) and former BJP leader Aarti Chauhan (Engine Ghar), are also in the fray.

Of the 34 wards, four fall in the constituency of Public Works Minister Vikramaditya Singh, who also holds the portfolios of Youth Services and Sports; 12 in the constituency of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Anirudh Singh, and 18 in the constituency of MLA Harish Janartha.

“We will win with a comfortable majority,” Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu told The Indian Express.

The CM on Sunday — the last day of campaigning — visited several wards and held back-to-back street meetings seeking support for the Congress candidates. He also spent some time at the municipal ward of Chhota Shimla, which he had earlier represented as a councillor. “It was homecoming. Bahut achchha laga. Apane ateet se judane ka mauka mila (It felt very nice. I got an opportunity to connect with my past),” said Sukhu.

The BJP, too, is confident of victory. “We will form the corporation with a majority,” Himachal Pradesh BJP president Rajeev Bindal told The Indian Express.

On the last day of campaigning, former chief minister Jai Ram Thakur held eight public meetings. No central leader was fielded, but efforts were made to make the most of the 100th episode of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Mann Ki Baat which was telecast on Sunday.

“We screened Mann Ki Baat at 130 places in Shimla coverning the largest number of polling booths. After the programme, we hit the road and went for door-to-door campaigning,” said Bindal.

Both the BJP and the Congress have promised the moon to the voters. The BJP has promised to introduce a ‘One Nigam, One Tax’ policy that would club taxes for houses, garbage and sewerage into one for the convenience of citizens. It has also promised a 50 per cent rebate on garbage bills and 40,000 litres of free water to every household a month.

The Congress, on the other hand, has promised to introduce uniform tax regime for both old and merged areas, a ropeway system, and policies for the regularisation of multi-storey buildings and allowing non-agriculturists settled in Shimla before 1971 to build homes.

The two parties have also promised to make Shimla drugs free and solve the traffic congestion issue by constructing parking lots.

From municipal committee to municipal corporation

Touted to be one of the oldest municipalities of India, the Shimla Municipal Committee was formed in December 1851. The website of the civic body claims it to be the first municipality of pre-Independence Punjab and also one of the richest, given the small size and population of Shimla at the time. It was declared as Class 1 Municipality on July 31, 1871. In 1874, it was brought under the Punjab Municipal Act IV of 1873. In 1884, with the introduction of the Punjab Municipal Act, XIII of 1884, the town was divided into two wards for the purpose of election – the Station Ward and the Bazaar Ward.

After Independence, adult franchise was adopted for local bodies and Shimla was divided into 14 single-member wards and one double-member ward. The elections of 1953 and 1960 were held according to this arrangement. In 1962, the number of wards was increased to 19. Elections did not take place in 1963 and the Punjab government superseded the committee in 1966. A court order reinstated the committee in 1967. But fresh elections were not held as the Capital of Himachal Pradesh (Development and Regulations) Act, 1968, was passed and the committee was converted into a corporation.

At present, the Shimla Municipal Corporation has an elected mayor, councillors and a commissioner along with other officials. The elected body of the corporation has 39 councillors — 34 are elected while five are nominated by the state government. The tenure of the elected corporation is five years. The councillors elect mayor and deputy mayor from amongst themselves for a tenure of two years and a half.