SHIMLA: The State election commissioner Anil Kumar Khachi has today announced the election schedule for the Shimla Municipal Corporation(SMC) after a delay of over nine months as the delimitation of the wards ran into a series of legal hassles.
SMC 34 wards will go to polls on May 2 and the results would be out on May 4.
SMC has run into a series of legal battles ever since the previous Jai Ram Thakur government had carried out the delimitation process and increased the ward strength to 41 from 34 wards.
Soon after the Congress came to power in the state, the Sukhu government scraped the old notification and retained the wards number to 34.
The election was due since June, 2022.
The sanitation and cleanliness has gone for a six as there is no civic body to take care of the city.
It was for the first time in the history of SMC that BJP captured the civic body and ran the show for the last five years.
But the residents took last BJP tenure with a pinch of salt as the performance was not up to the expectations of the residents, claimed Congress workers.
On the other hand, BJP also claimed that they would retain the SMC second time in a row.
While Congress enjoys the benefit of being in power in the state, BJP face anti-incumbency to retain the seat of the power in the oldest municipality in the country.
Other rivals like CPM and AAP are in the arena, but they have remained as non-entity so far, as they have to do a grueling work before being noticed in the erstwhile summer capital of the Raj.
Though CPM had got Mayor and Deputy Mayor posts in 2012-17 tenure, but the party faired poorly in 2017 as it had just got to a seat.
AAP has yet to contest the SMC election to register its presence in the city as is its case in rest of Himachal.
Half of the wards are reserved for women. Six wards are reserved for SC, of this three for SC women. 14 wards are open.
The 14 wards reserved for women are: New Shimla, Kasumpati, Sanjauli, Lower Bazaar, Lower Dhalli, Malyana, Ruldu Bhatta, Pantha Ghatti, Kaithu, Tutti Kandi, Ram Bazar Ganj, Totu, Majhat, Kachhi Ghati,
Here is the election schedule:
