Hans News Service Shimla

HimachalPradesh BJP president Rajeev Bindal on Thursday accused Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led Congress government of systematically undermining democracy and orchestrating an attempt to hijack panchayati raj and urban local body elections in the state. In a statement, he said that for two years, the Congress government made relentless efforts to delay the elections, even taking the matter to the Supreme Court.

After the apex court clearly directed that the elections should be conducted before May 31, 2026, the state government has now resorted to “a new phase of manipulation and malpractice” by arbitrarily altering the reservation status of local bodies, he said.

The BJP has been alleging that the chief minister is changing the reservation status of local bodies to accommodate people of his choice. Bindal said that it is for the first time in the state’s history that the reservation roster is being altered arbitrarily and repeatedly: one day, a panchayat is reserved for scheduled castes, the next day, it is declared unreserved and then reserved for women.

“This is not an electoral process, this is Congress’s ‘suitability’ model, where rules are not followed but tailored to suit political convenience,” he alleged. The state BJP chief said that such actions are in direct violation of the spirit of the Panchayati Raj Act and Article 243D of the Constitution, which mandates a transparent and structured process for reservation and roster determination, instead of arbitrary alterations to manipulate electoral outcomes.