PIONEER NEWS SERVICE/Dehradun
The Congress has welcomed the interim stay ordered by the Uttarakhand High Court on the three-tier Panchayat election process in the State. The Pradesh Congress Committee vice president Suryakant Dhasmana said that prima facie, the stay ordered by the court validates the allegations levelled earlier by the Congress wherein the party had accused the State government of tampering with the reservation system in the Panchayat polls.He said that the then Congress government had enacted the Panchayati Raj Act in the State in 2016 and after that the government had to prepare the rules for the Act. However, the 2017 Assembly elections resulted in a change in the government in the State. The Bharatiya Janata Party was elected to office in 2017 and has been in power since then. “The BJP made three chief ministers in a period of eight years but was unable to prepare the rules,” he said. Dhasmana said that the statement of the Panchayati Raj secretary in which he states the the Reservation Rules 2025 have gone for printing, is laughable, questioning why it has taken eight years for the printing process. The Congress leader further said that the party is fully prepared for the Panchayat polls. Its newly appointed district in-charges have started their work and the party will start the process of selection of candidates as soon as the final decision of the court in this matter is taken, he added.
