Shimla: Leader of Opposition and former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Jairam Thakur on Tuesday accused the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu government of “insulting the people’s mandate, democracy and the Constitution” by delaying elections to key posts in Panchayati Raj institutions.
Welcoming the Himachal Pradesh High Court’s direction to clarify a date for holding the election of the president and vice-president of the Shimla Zila Parishad, Thakur alleged that the government was repeatedly facing embarrassment in court because of its “authoritarian approach”.
“The Chief Minister must understand that dictatorship cannot work in a democratic system. To save his own face, he is insulting the court, democracy and the people’s mandate,” Thakur said.
He claimed that the ruling Congress had suffered an unprecedented setback in the recent local body elections, alleging that it could not even field candidates for the posts of president and vice-president in nine of the state’s 10 Zila Parishads.
According to Thakur, the government had deliberately delayed the elections because it was aware of the extent of its defeat. He alleged that after being compelled to proceed following court intervention, the government was now attempting to delay elections to the posts of Zila Parishad and Block Development Committee office-bearers to allegedly “intimidate BJP-backed elected representatives and secure their support”.
Thakur also questioned the government’s decision to invoke the Disaster Management Act to postpone elections, alleging that the government later held celebrations marking three years of its tenure in areas that had been severely affected by disasters.
“Roads remain damaged, debris is still lying around and electricity and water arrangements are largely temporary. Yet the government used disaster relief funds sent by the Centre to celebrate its three-year tenure,” he alleged.
The former chief minister further claimed that BJP-backed candidates had won 51 presidents’ and 54 vice-presidents’ posts in the state’s 92 Block Development Committees, compared with 29 presidents and 25 vice-presidents elected from the Congress side. He said elections to eight BDCs were yet to be finalised, alleging that the government was delaying them because the Congress “does not have the numbers”.
Cites High Court remarks in Indora case
Referring to the Indora case, Thakur said the High Court had already fixed a date for proceedings and had made strong observations regarding the delay in holding elections to the posts of president and vice-president.
Citing the recent judgment in Ankush Indoria vs State of Himachal Pradesh (CWP No. 11710 of 2026), Thakur said the court had underlined the statutory requirement under Section 79 of the Himachal Pradesh Panchayati Raj Act, 1994, for the election of the president and vice-president to be held immediately after elected members are administered the oath.
He alleged that although the government had allowed the stipulated seven-day period to lapse, no amendment had been made to the original provision that would permit elections to be postponed indefinitely.
Thakur further claimed that the court had held that the executive had no statutory authority to defer the elections merely because a police investigation was pending. He said the court’s observations describing the decision to stop the election as “unsustainable”, “patently illegal” and contrary to the rule of law should have served as a warning to the government.
“Despite such strong observations by the High Court, the government has not abandoned its authoritarian approach,” Thakur said, accusing the Sukhu government of continuing to undermine democratic institutions and the constitutional mandate.
