Two days ahead of the mayoral election in the Solan Municipal Corporation (MC), the Deputy Commissioner has flagged the issue of encroachments by two BJP councillors before the Divisional Commissioner, Shimla.
The move aimed at securing their disqualification by citing legal provisions will reduce the strength of the BJP councillors in the MC from 10 to eight. The Congress, which has merely six councillors, is trying to turn the tide in its favour by securing the vote of the local MLA, besides roping in an Independent councillor, who is a BJP rebel.
As per the DC’s report, BJP councillor Rohit Bhardwaj from Ward No. 4 is the beneficiary of rental income from a commercial structure erected on a land owned by the National Highways Authority of India. He derived rental income from a licensed vend existing on this structure in the Salogra area of Solan in the financial year 2025-26. His paternal aunt has leased the vend to a liquor contractor in the current financial year, the report added.
In the other case, BJP councillor Rekha Sahni’s mother-in-law has been established as an encroacher of 25sqm of government land located in the Jawahar Park area, where a residential structure has been erected. The encroached land is the property of the Public Works Department. Though the SDM had received a complaint regarding the encroachment from Congress candidate Satya Verma on May 5, the objection was rejected as it was not supported by documents.
Terming the development as unfair, BJP leaders stated that the fresh report submitted by the DC before the Divisional Commissioner has raised questions over the scrutiny conducted by SDM-cum-Assistant Returning Officer while examining the nomination papers of Rekha Sahni.
With the Divisional Commissioners having being designated as the competent authority to decide cases of disqualification of councillors on June 23, the Congress government was sparing no effort to secure the twin posts of mayor and deputy mayor in the Solan MC despite not having majority.
However, it remains to be seen how the Congress will turn the tide in its favour as it will fail to reach the majority mark of nine even if two BJP councillors are disqualified and the independent councillor opts to support them and the mayor will be elected by a draw of lots.
As a tactical move, all 17 councillors were issued notices today for holding the mayoral poll tomorrow though DC had issued these orders on June 24. The move comes after the DC forwarded the report regarding encroachments to the Divisional Commissioner. Earlier, the councillors were supposed to be administered oath tomorrow.
As per the fresh notification, both parties have been directed to appoint their authorised agents in Form-51 before the commencement of the poll. The provision was introduced by the Urban Development Department in August 2024 ahead of the mid-term mayoral election in Solan with an aim to curb cross-voting.
