Sword dangling over renegade Congress councillors after MLAs

In Solan, four “rebel” Congress council members are in danger of losing their seats, while the disqualification of six Congress “rebel” MLAs has become the talk of the state’s politics.

The Urban Development Director’s final decision is still pending, and Solan Deputy Commissioner Manmohan Sharma is now looking into the situation after the head of the District Congress Committee requested that the council members be removed from office.

Sharma affirmed that after taking into account all of the information provided by the four council members, the president of the DCC, and other council members, the inquiry report had been sent to the director of the Urban Development Department (UDD). In the polls, the official Congress candidates for Mayor and Deputy Mayor lost, even though they had the support of nine out of the seventeen council members.

The DCC president filed a complaint alleging that the four council members, Usha Sharma, Punam Grover, Abhay Sharma, and Rajeev Kaura, who voted against the party’s nominee, were subject to defection under Section 8A of the HP Municipal Corporation Act. The four council members disputed the disqualification, claiming the letter of complaint had no evidence and was instead a predetermined opinion. On December 7, Usha Sharma of the Congress won the mayoral election, while Mira Anand of the BJP was chosen as the deputy mayor.

Shortly after the election, Health and Family Welfare Minister DR Shandil hailed Sharma’s win as the party’s triumph. The four council members said that the Congress had not issued a whip in support of Sardar Singh and Sangeeta Thakur for the positions of mayor and deputy mayor, respectively, prior to the elections. No such directive was sent via letter to the council members, nor was it included in the minutes that the presiding officer had prepared shortly after the election.

The DCC president and the council members who were demanding disqualification did not provide the inquiry officer with any persuasive documentation. The DCC said in his RTI response that he had sent Sardar Singh, the party’s official candidate for mayor, with the authorization letter from the Congress before to the polls. Singh also presented it to the Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC), who served as the election’s presiding officer, prior to the start of the voting process. Additionally, he said that Sardar Singh and Sangeeta Thakur were the party’s official candidates for mayor and deputy mayor, respectively.

The letter was sent to the ADC after the voting process had started, and DCC president Shiv Kumar had done so from outside the room where the elections were being held, which is why the four council members disagreed with the assertion.

It is still unclear what stance the DC adopted in his report and whether or not all council members would agree with it.