The BJP today alleged that the Congress had won the Palampur Municipal Corporation elections through the inclusion of “illegal” voters and demanded a high-level inquiry into the voter registration process.
Addressing a press conference here today, BJP senior spokesperson Trilok Kapoor claimed that the ward delimitation for the Municipal Corporation was carried out without adequate public consultation. He alleged that thousands of migrant labourers from states such as Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh were enrolled as voters in violation of electoral norms.
Kapoor alleged that around 250 to 300 such votes were added in each municipal ward, taking the total number of “illegal” votes to nearly 3,000. He further claimed that while applications submitted by local residents for inclusion in the electoral rolls were allegedly ignored, migrant workers were registered as voters.
The BJP leader said that the party would seek a high-level investigation into the alleged irregularities to ensure that such incidents do not recur in future elections. The party would also approach the Himachal Pradesh High Court.
Referring to the municipal poll results, Kapoor said BJP candidates lost four wards by margins of 49, 56, 114, and 125 votes, respectively. He claimed that the party trailed the Congress by an overall margin of around 1,100 votes across the 14 municipal wards and argued that the alleged irregularities had influenced the outcome of the elections.
Kapoor also asserted that the BJP had performed strongly in the recently concluded Panchayati Raj elections. He claimed that Congress candidates had forfeited their security deposits in two Zila Parishad constituencies and that BJP-supported candidates had secured a majority of positions, from ward panchs to Block Samiti members.
Congratulating the newly elected BJP-backed leadership of the Palampur Block Samiti, Kapoor welcomed the election of Usha Devi as Chairperson and Bindu as Vice-Chairperson. He thanked the elected members for supporting the BJP-backed candidates despite the Congress being in power in the state.
The BJP spokesperson further claimed that the party enjoys strong support in both rural and urban areas of Palampur and expressed confidence about its prospects in future elections. He also referred to the proposed SIR of electoral rolls, alleging that it would remove ineligible names from the voter list.
