Silchar MLA, MP to decide when to hold municipality election: Ashok Singhal; "After Upgradation," hints MP, MLA

Yesterday, the chief minister of Assam, Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma announced that in the month of February, Municipality elections will take place throughout the state of Assam, including in Guwahati Municipality Corporation and two autonomous bodies.

This poses a serious question to the fate of Silchar Municipality Board. In the month of September, Assam Cabinet approved the proposal to upgrade Silchar Municipality Board to Silchar Municipality Corporation. So, will it be an election to the board or the corporation is something that still remains uncertain.

Guardian Minister of Cachar District and Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs, Ashok Singhal, speaking with Barak Bulletin, said that the bill to upgrade Silchar Municipality Board to Corporation will be tabled in the Assembly and only after that it will get notified.

“Meanwhile, whether we are holding the election as a municipality board or corporation, will be decided as per the advise of the local MLA and MP. Now, it will depend on the local MLA and MP, if they want to go for the election and then convert it to corporation or upgrade it to corportation and only then go for the elections. It is very much a localised issue and we must take the MLA and MP into confidence,” asserted Minister Ashok Singhal.

On April 1, 2020, Niharendra Narayan Thakur handed over charges of Silchar Municipality Board to Sumit Sattavan, who assumed as the Executive Officer. The election is due since then. Now JR Lalsim is the executive officer of the board. Almost after a gap of two years, when there will be an election, Silchar is likely to miss out.

The matter was up for discussion in the officer bearers’ meeting too and as per sources, it was decided that MP Silchar Dr. Rajdeep Roy, MLA Dibrugarh Prasanta Phukan adn MLA Silchar, Dipayan Chakraborty to decide the future course of action regarding the Municipality elections in these two constituencies.

“We have already held preliminiary discussions and we are of the opinion that since it was a part of our election manifesto to upgrade the Municipality Boards to corporation, it is better to first complete the upgradation and then go for the elections. The general mood of the party is that, in all probabilites, we are headed to upgrdation first and election later. It will be done as early as possible because, at times, delayed elections lead to delay in development,” said MP Rajdeep Roy while speaking with Barak Bulletin.

Silchar MLA Dipayan Chakraborty said that he is set to meet Guardian Minister Ashok Singhal and there they might discuss the issue. “When the honourable chief minister was asked about the Municipality elections in Silchar and if it should be done after upgrading to corporation, he said, that it should be decided after discussion with the respective MLAs,” said Chakraborty.

When asked what his view is on the matter, he responded, “It was our poll promise to upgrade Silchar Municipality Board to a corporation. When I was asked for my view, after discussing with honourable MP and others in the party, I said that we should first upgrade the Board to a Corporation and only then go for election. The final decision, however, is yet to be taken.”

BJP’s Cachar District president, Bimalendu Roy, too echoed the MLA. Responding to Barak Bulletin’s query, he said, “We will only go for election after Silchar Municipality Board is converted to a Corporation. This is the stand of the party.”

It becomes clear, in all likelihood, there won’t be a Municipality election in Silchar in February. However, there remains confusion on when the elections will be held. A former ward commissioner said that conversion to Corporation will involve demarcation. In some cases, some parts of the GP areas might also get included in the Municipality Corporation. In that case, the elected representatives of those GP areas might object which enhances the uncertainty. “Will the government, in that case wait till the GP term gets over? Which means we might go on till 2023 without an election,” said the former ward commissioner who wished not to be named.