Ahead of the Shimla Municipal Corporation Elections, the Congress in Himachal Pradesh exuded confidence in winning the civic body polls to be held on Tuesday.

Minister of Education, Rohit Thakur and Minister of Panchayti Raj and rural development, Anirudh Singh of Himachal Pradesh in a joint conference in Shimla said, “The Congress party is going to win this election, after winning the parliamentary and three Assembly bye-elections in 2021 and General state Assembly elections in 2022 and now will be winning the civic body poll of the state capital city, Shimla.” The ministers alleged that during the Bharatiya Janta Party rule in the Municipal Corporation for five years there has been a failure and corruption under the smart city projects
They claimed the Congress party will increase Shimla’s development further.

Education Minister Rohit Thakur said, “Many important works have been done during the five-month tenure of the Congress government and the government has also prepared a roadmap for the development of Shimla. The Congress party will score a hat-trick of victory in MC and the government’s tenure of 5 months will be recognized by the public in these polls. The BJP has failed to get Shimla Municipal Corporation developed in five years.”

Rural development and Panchayati Raj minister, Anirudh Singh said that the Congress government in the state is women, youth and employee-friendly government.

“In the tenure of 5 months, the government has taken major decisions in the public interest, due to which the Congress will be able to occupy the Shimla Municipal Corporation, while the BJP has come down to the politics of intimidation, distribution of money and liquor, which the public will never accept,” said Anirudh Singh.

A total of 93920 voters will participate for 34 wards of Municipal Corporation Shimla.

There are 49759 male and 44161 female voters in this. In these 34 wards, a maximum of 4161 voters are in Vikas Nagar, Ward No. 29 while a minimum of 1166 voters are in Ward No. 25, Malyana.

As many as 149 polling stations have been set up for the election of 34 wards of Municipal Corporation Shimla, and 4 auxiliary polling stations have also been set up for 4 wards, Lower Dhalli, Vikasnagar, Kangnadhar and New Shimla. 153 polling teams have been appointed for the general election of Shimla Municipal Corporation, in which about 1000 polling personnel and security personnel are included.

Out of 149 polling stations, 10 polling stations have been declared highly sensitive, 40 sensitive and 99 polling stations normal. The State Election Commission has instructed the Returning Officer and Deputy Commissioner, Shimla, that webcasting of the polling process should be done at highly sensitive and sensitive polling stations so that polling can be conducted smoothly.

Apart from this, 2119 voters will participate in the bye-elections being conducted for Ward No. 2 of Palampur Municipal Corporation, out of which 1090 are male and female.

There are 1029 women voters. The polling will be held on May 2, 2023, from 8 am to 4 pm.
Counting of votes for Municipal Corporation Shimla and Palampur will be done from 10 am on May 4, 2023, while counting of votes of ward members of other urban bodies, Nagar Panchayat Jwali, District Kangra and Nagar Panchayat Rajgarh, District Sirmaur will start immediately after polling ends. Later it will be done at Nagar Panchayat Headquarters
Similarly, polling for the bye-elections of Panchayati Raj Institutions will also be held on May 2, 2023, from 8 am to 4 pm. 23896 voters Will participate in the by-election being conducted for Ward No. 17 of Una Zilla Parishad.

Out of which 11988 are male and 11908 are female voters. The counting of the votes of Panchayat Pradhan, Up-Pradhan and members will be done at the Gram Panchayat headquarters immediately after the end of polling while the votes of Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti will be counted at 9 am on May 4, 2023 at the concerned block headquarters.

The State Election Commission appealed to all the voters of the concerned areas to take part in the polling.