Guwahati: Manipur’s Congress Party criticized the state administration for failing to hold elections for urban local bodies even after the end of its mandate.
Addressing media in a press conference held at Congress Bhawan, BT Road Imphal West on January 3, Congress MLA Okram Surjakumar Singh remarked that the term of grass-roots representatives such as urban local bodies, Imphal Municipal Corporation, Autonomous District Councils, and Panchayat has come to an end.
However, the state administration hasn’t made any action to organise the election of those local members.
He stated that the term for urban local bodies had ended two years prior, that of the Imphal Municipal Corporation has just come to an end, that of the autonomous district council will expire on June 10, 2020 and that of the panchayat will expire on October 24, 2022.
The state government had previously claimed that the COVID-19 outbreak was the cause of the delay in the election of the aforementioned representatives. However, even after the pandemic has been contained, the state government has not acted to hold the election. People want to know why the election is being held because the current issue is nearly settled, he continued.
He said that all three levels of government must function well in order to promote development throughout the entire nation. The state administration’s failure to hold elections for local government is a flagrant breach of Indian law.
Supplementing to media, chairperson of Legal Cell of Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC), Sanoujam Shyamcharan said that MPCC had filed public interest litigation in connection with not holding election for grass root level representatives at High Court of Manipur.
The state cabinet decided to hold elections for the aforementioned grass-roots government in November 2022, the court has responded. Unfortunately, the state government has yet to make any announcement regarding the election.
“Being a citizen of democratic society, we MPCC strongly believed to judiciary system. As such we hope that the state government will accomplish their assurance given to High Court of Manipur,” he added.