Stage set for elections to 48 civic bodies in Jharkhand
Ranchi (PTI): All preparations have been made for conducting elections to Jharkhand's 48 urban local bodies (ULB), including Ranchi, on Monday, a State Election Commission (SEC) official said.
Voting will begin at 7 am amid tight security and will continue till 5 pm, he said.
Over 43.43 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the elections.
"The polling parties have been dispatched on Sunday morning and they are expected to reach their respective destinations by this evening. Many of them have already reached," SEC secretary Radhe Shyam Prasad told PTI.
The counting of votes will be held on February 27.
The elections are scheduled to be held for the posts of mayor, chairperson and councillor at 1,042 wards in nine municipal corporations, 20 nagar parishads and 19 nagar panchayats, he said.
There are 1,087 wards in 48 ULBs, but elections will be held in 1,042 wards, as 41 councillors have already been elected unopposed, while three wards remained vacant after no nomination was received and election at a ward in Mango Municipal Corporation has been cancelled after death of a candidate, Prasad said.
As many as 562 candidates, including 235 women, are in fray for the post of mayor and chairperson, while 5,562 candidates, including 2,727 women, are contesting for the post of ward councillors.
Prasad said adequate security arrangements have been ensured in each booth across 48 ULBs in the state.
A total of 4,307 polling booths have been set up to hold the elections. Of the total polling booths, 896 have been identified as hyper-sensitive and 2,445 as sensitive.
The campaigning for the polls ended at 5 pm on Saturday.
ULB polls in Jharkhand are not contested on the basis of the electoral symbols of the political parties, but candidates are backed by the outfits.
In Ranchi, 11 candidates are contesting for the post of mayor, while 167 aspirants are in the fray for 53 ward councillor posts.
Ranchi Deputy Commissioner Manjunath Bhajantri said all preparations are in place for the election on Monday.
As many as 909 polling booths have been set up in Ranchi. A total of 422 wheelchairs have been provided to facilitate elderly and physically challenged persons in booths, according to a statement issued by the Ranchi administration.
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Kumaraswamy says ‘caste for sake of a chair’ charge against CM Siddaramaiah was serious
Bengaluru (PTI): Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Sunday launched a sharp counterattack on Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, asserting that his charge that the CM had “dragged caste into the picture for the sake of a chair” was made in all seriousness and not in jest.
Responding to Siddaramaiah’s media statement targeting the JD(S) leadership, Kumaraswamy in a post on X said, “When I said that Siddaramaiah has dragged caste into the picture for the sake of a chair, I did not say it jokingly; I said it seriously."
In his statement, Siddaramaiah had alleged that Kumaraswamy and his father, former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, were 'family-centric' and that "in the past, present and future, the top leaders of the Janata Dal (Secular) will be members of the Gowda family".
Reacting to this, the MP wrote, “Siddaramaiah, I do not speak in a roundabout manner. I will come straight to the point.”
Taking strong exception to Siddaramaiah’s remarks against his father, Kumaraswamy said, “You are not a champion of social justice but its destroyer. It is shocking that you are pointing fingers at Deve Gowda, who gave you political strength and life. The power you hold today and the attire of a social justice crusader you wear are all gifts of Deve Gowda. You too are a product and beneficiary of his social justice.”
He further contended that had Deve Gowda been guided solely by caste or family considerations, Siddaramaiah would not have risen in politics.
“Had he thought only about his own caste and family back then, you would not have become Finance Minister, nor would you have secured even the chairmanship of a corporation,” he said.
Referring to the Chief Minister’s listing of several Vokkaliga leaders who had left the JD(S), Kumaraswamy said, “Like you, they too enjoyed power and grew in stature because of Deve Gowda’s hard work and sacrifice, and later jumped the fence. As you claim, had Gowda believed that only family mattered, none of those on the list would have become MLAs, Ministers or MPs — including you! What do you say?”
He also objected to Siddaramaiah invoking senior Congress leaders in his defence.
“Do you possess even a mustard seed’s worth of worthiness or morality to utter S M Krishna’s name? The world knows how cruelly you betrayed Krishna, whom you once described before Sonia Gandhi as ‘an unpolished diamond’ and who paved your way into the Congress,” he wrote.
Kumaraswamy rejected the Chief Minister’s claim that the Congress alone had nurtured Vokkaliga leaders. “You say it is the Congress that nurtured Vokkaligas — sheer nonsense… If the Congress alone makes Vokkaligas Chief Ministers, should you not immediately vacate the chair? This is the right time to demonstrate your love for Vokkaligas!” he said.
He also raised questions about Siddaramaiah’s second term as Chief Minister and the reported power tussle between him and his deputy D K Shivakumar.
The JD(S) leader said he welcomed the generosity of the Congress in giving capable leadership to the Vokkaliga community.
He demanded that Siddaramaiah should also need to demonstrate that generosity by vacating the top post, paving the way for a 'Vokkaliga' -- an apparent reference to Shivakumar.
According to Kumaraswamy, before Siddaramaiah became the Chief Minister for a second term, there was an agreement between him and Shivakumar and he should now show the generosity to reveal it publicly. "I believe that Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretaries K C Venugopal and Randeep Singh Surjewala, who were witnesses to that agreement between the two of you in Delhi, have now understood the peak of your commitment to social justice and love for Vokkaligas. At least I believe their mental faculties are intact."
In a pointed remark on social justice, Kumaraswamy alleged that it is repulsive that the "destroyer of social justice" keeps speaking repeatedly about social justice.
"Your social justice has no conscience. If it had, Mallikarjun Kharge would have become Chief Minister before you,” the Union Minister said.
Concluding his post, he said if Siddaramaiah was truly a leader of AHINDA (an acronym for minorities, backward castes and Dalits) and a representative of social justice, he would not have dragged in the caste into which he was born at such a sensitive time.
He advised Siddaramaiah not to invoke the names of social reformers in future.
