Whereas a pitched battle has begun among the ticket seekers in the State within the ruling Congress party for the upcoming municipal elections in Uttarakhand, the Congress party is not in a hurry to distribute tickets soon.
Rather as it has been the tradition of the Congress party, it would take its own time to finalise the ‘winning’ candidates for the said civic polls. This ‘not in a hurry mood’ has only signaled that the Congress party would announce the list of candidates only at the last moment or just ahead of the civic polls that have to be done as per the court’s direction by April 30, 2013, as the party insiders have said.
Although the local civic or Panchayat polls have their own significance, both for the ruling and the main Opposition parties in the State, yet the civic polls of 2013 assume special significance for both the Congress party and the BJP in the mountain State as these local civic bodies elections are being held ahead of the lok Sabha elections which are slated to be held in 2014.
Given the possibility of holding the general elections any time within a year or so, obviously no party would like to take these civic polls lightly, as the old hands in Kumaon affairs here believe.
Political observers here maintain that the ruling Congress party was not initially serious about holding the civic polls as per schedule, following the High Court of Uttarakhand’s order in this regard; now it has become mandatory for the State Government to conduct the local civic bodies’ elections as per schedule.
Among other reasons ruling Congress’ defeat in the Tehri lok Sabha by-polls, high inflation, to name a few issues had perhaps come as a serious cause of concern for the Congress-led State Government. Therefore, it wanted to buy some more time to hold the civic body polls.
However, as the civic polls have to be conducted by April 30 as per the court’s order, the Congress party has now seemed to have geared up for facing the electorate.
But selection of the candidates for the upcoming civic polls won’t be less challenging for the Congress party as it experienced ahead of the assembly elections in early 2012 when many a ticket-seekers had to revolt against the party.
At the same time, it won’t be so easy for the claimants to get tickets this time so easily as they must be expecting. Tickets will be given only after examining the winning-ability of the candidates and efforts are on to be prepared for the civic polls, Prayag Bhatt, general secretary of the State Congress party, told The Pioneer.
Observers will also soon be appointed for every district and accordingly, the party would look into the matters related to distribution of tickets and other civil polls related matters.
Hopefully, the candidates will be finalised for the civic polls later next month; in fact, ahead of the civic polls in April, he added.