Leader of Opposition (LoP) and former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Saturday accused the Congress government of intimidating elected BJP councillors and panchayat representatives, along with their families, through vigilance probes and transfer threats to hijack the public mandate that favoured the BJP in most local body elections.
Thakur warns of legal action
Addressing a press conference in Shimla, Thakur warned that if such efforts to influence elected members continue, the BJP will seek legal recourse. He claimed that scrutiny of every BJP councillor is being conducted and threats of vigilance cases are being issued to force them to support Congress candidates.
“Elections for Chairmen and Vice Chairmen of Nagar Panchayats have been held only in places where Congress has majority,” Thakur said. He predicted that the Congress would meet the same fate as the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal for trying to capture urban local bodies and panchayat bodies against the public mandate.
Protest against horse trading
BJP leaders staged a protest outside the Deputy Commissioner’s Office against alleged horse trading and manipulation of elected candidates. Thakur issued a warning to officials who are repeatedly postponing elections on the directions of the state government. “We are preparing a list of Deputy Commissioners and SDMs who, on the government’s directions, are not fixing a date for the polls even 27 days after the results were announced,” he said.
Thakur alleged that the Congress regime is trying to hijack elections in Solan, Mandi, Chamba, Kullu, and Una by registering encroachment cases against elected councillors and panchayat representatives. He claimed that in almost 70 per cent of places, BJP candidates won the posts of Pradhan and Up Pradhan, and in three of the four Municipal Corporations (Dharamshala, Solan, and Mandi) where polls were held on party symbols, the BJP emerged victorious.
Court-set deadline for polls
Thakur said the Congress government, fearing defeat, was not keen to hold panchayat and urban local body elections, and it was only through court intervention that a May 31, 2026 deadline was fixed for holding the polls.
