BJP to stage protests over delayed urban local body polls from January 5

The Jharkhand unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will organise protests in urban local body areas across the state on January 5, 6 and 7, demanding early municipal elections. Party workers will also submit memorandums addressed to the Governor, BJP state president and Leader of Opposition Babulal Marandi said.

The decision was taken at a meeting held at the BJP state office here, chaired by Marandi, and attended by state working president and MP Aditya Sahu, along with senior party leaders, MPs, MLAs and office-bearers.

Advertisement

Addressing the media after the meeting, Marandi alleged that the Hemant Soren government was deliberately delaying municipal elections. He said the absence of elected representatives had adversely affected the resolution of basic civic issues, allowing what he described as “officer raj” to dominate urban bodies.

Marandi demanded that elections be held without further delay in all 49 urban local bodies of the state, comprising 22 nagar panchayats, 18 nagar parishads and nine municipal corporations. He stressed that polls should be conducted on a party basis and through electronic voting machines.

He argued that party-based elections allow politically and socially active workers, familiar with everyday civic problems, to represent people effectively. He also said that when voters elect the Prime Minister, Chief Ministers, MPs and MLAs through EVMs, there was no reason municipal elections should be conducted differently.

Meanwhile, Aditya Sahu criticised the Congress for opposing the G RAM G scheme, calling the stand unfortunate and driven by appeasement politics. He said the Congress had renamed several schemes during its decades in power but was now objecting to a programme associated with the name of Ram.

Sahu said the G RAM G scheme aimed to strengthen rural areas under the vision of a developed India, enabling villagers to plan and implement development works at the local level. He highlighted provisions such as geo-tagging, regular monitoring, biannual audits and enhanced transparency, along with increasing guaranteed employment days from 100 to 125.

He added that BJP workers would launch a public outreach campaign to explain the features of the scheme and mobilise support across the state.