Is Congress afraid of losing local polls in Andhra Pradesh?

Hyderabad, Jul 11: Nothing but the fear of defeat is making the ruling

in

shy away from holding elections to Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) and Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs) for several months now.

The term of elected councils in ULBs ended way back in Sept 2010 while that of PRIs expired in Aug 2011.

Since then, they are being run by "Special Officers", with an extension every six months, in total violation of the provisions of Constitution 73 and 74 Amendment Acts.

That the eight-year-old Congress government has been facing a strong anti-incumbency is no news. Barring the two seats in the last month's by-elections to the state Assembly, the Congress did not register a single victory in successive by-polls in the last two years.

The ruling party has been reduced to a naught in the Telangana region because of its indecisiveness on the statehood issue and the scene is no different even in Andhra-Rayalseema regions as well.

If it brought the ULBs under the Special Officers' rule, after their term expired in Sept 2010, due to the Telangana factor, the spectre of the infant YSR Congress prevented it from holding the elections in the later period. Same was the case with the PRIs.

History also suggests that the Congress never performed greatly in the elections to local bodies in the state and it employed dubious tactics like holding indirect election for the posts of Mayor\Municipal Chairperson and mandal and Zilla Parishad chairperson.

In 2005, for example, the Congress "captured" power in many ULBs only with the help of its MPs and MLAs, who are ex-officio members of the respective councils, though it didn't win majority of the seats. Same was the case in many Zilla Parishads in 2006.

The Congress is taking cover under an ongoing litigation in court on the reservation of seats for backward classes in the local bodies to inordinately defer the elections.

PTI