With an eye on municipal elections due in November, the ruling Congress in Rajasthan is planning to conduct a survey before distribution of tickets to candidates. The party has asked its block committees to identify the local issues which will be raised in the run-up to the polls.
Pradesh Congress president Sachin Pilot has asked Ministers to visit the district Congress committee offices during their tours and address the grievances of people, besides getting feedback from the local party workers. “Local polls are fought strictly on the issues of the neighbourhood. It is our duty to resolve the problems related to municipal bodies,” he said.
In its first Cabinet meeting after being elected in December 2018, the Congress government had reversed the previous BJP regime’s decision of 2014 on the mode of election of Mayors of municipal corporations from indirect to direct polling. The government’s latest decision to increase the number of municipal wards and delimit their boundaries may also help the Congress. Mr. Pilot said at a preparatory meeting held here on Wednesday that the Congress was willing to fulfil people’s aspirations for development after being elected to the State Assembly. The local Congress workers should help the party in selecting suitable candidates without any prejudices and carry the message of the government’s welfare policies to the voters, he said.
Manifesto planning
Mr. Pilot, who is also the Deputy Chief Minister, said the district committees would prepare manifestos, incorporating the local issues, for the towns where municipal corporations and municipal councils are functioning.
The office-bearers of the party’s front organisations will also be involved in the works such as corrections in the electoral rolls.
Local Self Government Minister Shanti Dhariwal said the party would present a road map for completing the works of local bodies to win people’s confidence and field candidates with a background of working among the residents. Former PCC president Girija Vyas, Energy Minister B.D. Kalla, Transport Minister P.S. Khachariawas and office-bearers of the party's local units attended the meeting.
