ULB polls: Govt likely to convene special session of Vidhan Sabha in October
The Uttarakhand (Uttar Pradesh Municipal corporation 1959) Amendment Bill 2024 is with the Assembly’s select committee
Sunday, 09 September 2024 | PNS | DEHADUN
Following the affidavit submitted by the State government in the Uttarakhand High Court stating that the notification for the elections of Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in the State will be issued on November 10 and the process of elections and constitution of elected boards in them will be completed by December 25, the State government can now convene a special session of Vidhan Sabha for passage of the Uttarakhand (Uttar Pradesh Municipal corporation 1959) Amendment Bill 2024. It is likely that a one-day special session for passage of the bill will be convened in the month of October.
In the recently held monsoon session of the Vidhan Sabha, the speaker Ritu Bhushan Khanduri sent the municipal corporation amendment bill to the select committee of the Assembly. The government had incorporated amendments in the municipal bodies act on the recommendations of the one-member dedicated commission for determining Other Backward Classes (OBC) reservation in these bodies. However some of the BJP MLAs led by Vikasnagar MLA Munna Singh Chauhan raised objections to the recommendations of the one -member commission on OBC reservations and demanded sending the bill to the select committee for further scrutiny and discussion. The select committee is likely to submit its report to the speaker on September 23. Based on the recommendations of the select committee, the government will make some changes in the bill and convene a special session of Vidhan Sabha for passage of the bill.
A divisional bench of the HC comprising Chief Justice Ritu Bahari and Justice Rakesh Thapliyal held hearing of a PIL on holding of ULB elections on Friday. In the court the government expressed its inability to conduct the elections till the deadline of October 25. However, it submitted an affidavit stating that the notification will be issued on November 10. The government counsel told the HC that the appointment to the vacant post of State Election Commissioner (SEC) has been made. There are 102 ULBs in the State and the elections for 99 ULBs (barring Kedarnath, Badrinath and Gangotri Nagar Panchayats) will be held.
The five year term of the elected boards in all the ULBs of the State ended on December 1, 2023. Since the State government could not conduct the elections last year due to the pending report of the Supreme Court constituted one-member dedicated commission on OBC reservation in the ULBs, it posted administrators in all the bodies by an order dated November 30, 2023. This tenure of the administrators was further extended by a period of three months on June 2, 2024. With the end of this extension on August 31 the government again extended the tenure of the administrators till the constitution of new boards by elections.
