UP Opposition sees Maya ploy in move to ban parties from contesting local body polls

A move of the UP government to disallow political parties to contest local body elections,and which had been kept under wraps for almost a month,has run into trouble...

A move of the UP government to disallow political parties to contest local body elections,and which had been kept under wraps for almost a month,has run into trouble,with the main opposition parties alleging that this was being done to help the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party manipulate the local bodies. At present,political parties are free to contest these elections.

The provision to debar political parties from contesting local body elections is contained in the draft rules regarding municipal elections which were notified on May 11. Anyone could file objections within a month,but the notification wasnt given any publicity,nor was any political party informed about it.

On Wednesday,a day before the deadline for filing objections,the matter became public,sparking protests from Congress,SP and BJP. They all opposed the move and alleged ulterior motives of BSP government to capture local bodies through backdoor.

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Lucknow Mayor Dinesh,who is also Chairman of the UP Mayors Council,said neither did the government consult him in the drafting of the rules,nor did they send him a copy of the notification. If municipal elections are not fought on political lines,then parties like BSP can easily use muscle and money to influence corporators to have their own men elected as mayors and chairmen, Sharma said.

However,Alok Ranjan,Principal Secretary of Urban Development,said,We had published the notification and it was available for public. Still,there is a days time left to submit objections and we would welcome if there are any.

The Opposition also alleged the government wanted to discontinue direct election of mayors and chairmen of local bodies,and introduce indirect elections by members. However,Alok Ranjan said he had no such information. It seems some provision (of the notification) has been misunderstood, he said.

The rule in question,which is rule 4 (2) of the The Uttar Pradesh Municipalities (Election of Members,Corporators,Chairmen and Mayors) Rules 2010,says,The election to the post of members,corporators,chairperson and mayor of the municipalities shall not be contested on the basis of political parties.

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Congress,BJP and SP said the move showed the insecurity of the Mayawati government in view of BSPs weak base in urban areas,and it was for this reason that BSP had not fielded any candidate in the last municipal elections,held in 2006.

BSP wants to make such rules to manipulate the municipalities. Notification inviting objections should normally be published in newspapers,but nothing of the sort was done in this case, said Akhilesh Pratap Singh,UP Congress spokesperson. He said they had requested all parties to come forward and oppose the move.