Struggling with Covid-19 spread and preparing to celebrate his three years in power on December 27, here comes a fresh political test for the Jai Ram Thakur government in Himachal Pradesh.
The State Election Commission (SEC) on Monday announced the schedule for the polls to 3,615 gram panchayats ,which is a three-tier system with 50 per cent reservations of the seats at all the levels for women.
Polling will be held in the state on January 17, 19 and 21 ,as per notification issued this morning.
The day for filing nominations for the panchayat poll is December 31, January 1 and 2. Scrutiny has been fixed for January 4 while withdrawal of nomination forms will take place on January 6, between 10am and 3pm.
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Polling will take place from 8am to 4pm.
The counting of votes will be taken up at the end of the polling on January 21 after the polling for the ward members, Up Pradhan and Pradhan of Gram Panchayat.
The counting of votes for panchayat samiti and zila parishad elections will be held on January 22 at the respective block headquarters.
The counting of votes for election of ward members will continue until it is completed, said the State Election Commission, adding that the election process will be complete on January 23, said a spokesman for the commission.
The elections in the snow-bound tribal belt of Lahaul Spiti, Pangi in Chamba and some panchayats of Ani in Kullu will be announced later.
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The commission has earlier also announced the polls for the urban local bodies in the state barring two municipal corporations of Shimla and Dharamshala, apart from newly upgraded municipal committees.
After sweeping the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and two byelections held in the same year in Himachal Pradesh, the BJP is eyeing a victory in the panchayat polls before it sets out on its mission to return to power in 2022 Assembly elections.
Himachal Pradesh’s incumbent government has never returned to power since 1989 Assembly polls ,when Shanta Kumar became chief minister for the second time .Thereafter Prem Kumar Dhumal remained chief minister twice but could not repeat his performance . The first-time Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur says he will break the myth as the BJP was on a winning spree in the state and also the country.
He had proposed a mega show for December 27, which has now been scaled down, apart from switching it to virtual mode with Union defence minister Rajnath Singh and BJP national president JP Nadda joining in.
However, for Himachal Pradesh state's 50th year celebrations on January 25, Thakur has invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi .
