Uttarakhand Panchayat elections: Congress made a three-phase strategy, raised questions on the government regarding fairness,

Dehradun / Haridwar. With the release of the notification for Panchayat elections in Uttarakhand, political activity has intensified. On Saturday, the top leadership of the party held an important meeting at the Congress headquarters in Dehradun with the aim of deciding the strategy for the Panchayat elections. The meeting was chaired by State President Karan Mahra, in which many senior leaders including former Chief Minister Harish Rawat, Leader of Opposition Yashpal Arya, former State President Ganesh Godiyal and former Cabinet Minister Harak Singh Rawat were present.

After the meeting, state president Karan Mahara said that the decision of the state government to conduct panchayat elections in two phases is going to affect the transparency of the elections. He said that:

Not holding simultaneous elections in 12 districts, nullifying the roster and tampering with reservations shows that the government does not want fair elections.

In the meeting, Congress has prepared a three-step strategy for the Panchayat elections:

1. Evaluation of the status of Gram Sabha and BDC members.

2. District level coordination and monitoring of election activities.

3. Selection of candidates for Block chief and District Panchayat President by taking feedback from the state level.

It was also discussed in the meeting that the new reservation rotation system may affect the rights of SC, ST, OBC and women. Congress leaders called it against the rules and said they would wait for the decision of the court on June 24.

Former Chief Minister Harish Rawat said that the Congress will fight the elections with full strength and will expose the “conspiracies” of the BJP while keeping the issues of the people at the center. He said that the party has started preparing for the elections at the organizational level and this meeting is an indication of that.