4 Congress councillors contest disqualification from Solan MC

Tribune News Service

Ambika Sharma

Solan, January 30

Four councillors of the Solan Municipal Corporation, who were served show-cause notices for disqualification by the DC for voting against the Congress whip, have contested their disqualification.

The DC’s action follows a complaint lodged by District Congress Committee (DCC) president Shiv Kumar that four councilors -- Usha Sharma, Punam Grover, Abhay Sharma and Rajeev Kaura -- attracted defection under Section 8A of the HP Municipal Corporation Act for voting against the party whip.

The four councillors, in their reply submitted to the DC, have stated that the DCC’s letter was based on preconceived notions and not based on facts. Notably, both the official Congress candidate for the Mayor and Deputy Mayor had lost the poll while Congress’ Usha Sharma had won the Mayor’s poll and BJP’s Mira Anand was elected the Deputy Mayor on December 7.

Usha Sharma’s victory was hailed as the party’s victory by Health and Family Welfare Minister DR Shandil soon after the election before the media. She was now termed a defector along with three others.

The four claimed that no whip was issued by the Congress prior to the elections in favour of Sardar Singh and Sangeeta Thakur for Mayor and Deputy Mayor’s posts, respectively. No such direction through any letter was communicated to the councillors and neither was it recorded in the proceedings written soon after the election process by the presiding officer and signed by the councillors.

They alleged that a letter from the Congress authorising DCC Shiv Kumar was inserted into the proceedings later and it would fail to have any validity. Copy of record obtained through the RTI corroborates this fact.

They further added that a brief note of the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president was received by the presiding officer after commencement of the election process on December 7 and filing of nomination which was not tenable. This letter finds no mention in the hand-written proceedings recorded after the election thus putting a question mark over its validity. This they said was a clear attempt to manipulate the process.

They also claimed that the authorisation letter issued by the PCC president to authorize the DCC was antedated after the polls were held on December 7 as the dispatch number was not in series but alphabet A has been entered as the dispatch. Though it was dated December 5, the councillors came to know about it on December 23 after seeking an RTI. They further contented that since the difference of votes for the Mayor and Deputy Mayor’s post varied merely pointing fingers at four councillors was a clear attempt to implicate them.

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