Kharra Addresses Pending Local Bodies Elections in Rajasthan
Preparations at the government level for the municipal elections are complete; property businessmen submitted a memorandum to the minister regarding their demands
BHILWARA: UDH Minister Jhabbar Singh Kharra Friday inspected the urban public service camp at the Bhilwara UIT office. The inspection took place against a backdrop of tension outside the office, where local property businessmen, led by Mahesh Soni, organised a protest to voice their concerns.The protesters accused officials from the Bhilwara Urban Improvement Trust (UIT) of corruption and inefficiency, demanding immediate action to address their grievances. In response, Minister Kharra advised the agitated businessmen to put their complaints in writing. “Work does not get done by speaking too much. The more you speak, the more confusion you will get into,” he said.After the programme, Kharra spoke to the media about the pending municipal and panchayat elections in Rajasthan. He said the State Election Commission (SEC) and the OBC Commission have filed their affidavits in the Rajasthan High Court. He added that the state govt has completed its work related to local body elections, including expansion of boundaries, ward delimitation and ward reorganisation, by the beginning of 2026.Kharra said a case related to ward reorganisation and re-delimitation was pending in the high court and the decision came in favour of the state govt. He said conducting elections is the responsibility of the SEC.Referring to the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision on political reservation for backward classes, Kharra said the OBC Commission must provide accurate ward-wise data for Zila Parishads and Panchayat Samitis under the triple test so the govt can issue the notification for OBC quota in elections. He said the data collection work began earlier but remained pending due to SIR and has now resumed.Kharra said the OBC Commission is expected to submit the data in court in Aug, and once the govt receives it, within one week it will clarify the final position on OBC, SC-ST and women’s reservation and forward it to the concerned SEC.
