Puducherry CM diverts to L-G Bedi on not conducting polls after PM exposes Congress

A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi lambasted the Congress party, Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy alleged Lt Governor Kiran Bedi was blocking initiatives aimed at elections in the Union Territory. The rights and privileges of the elected government to revive democracy at the grassroots level have been grabbed by the L-G. Prime Minister Modi had said that Congress government is not allowing Panchayat and Municipal elections in the U-T. 

Narayanasamy said, "The Prime Minister cannot make such comments as all democratic rights of elected governments in Puducherry were blocked by Lt Governor Kiran Bedi. The matter relating to the holding of civic polls, particularly the appointment of State Election Commissioner for Puducherry, was now pending disposal before the court. When the government appointed retired IAS officer T M Balakrishnan as SEC, the Lt Governor rejected it and appointed Roy P Thomas, a retired IFS officer, as SEC following Centre's clearance. The government challenged the Lt Governor's powers to appoint the SEC and the matter was now pending disposal in the Supreme Court."

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The last civic polls were held in Puducherry in 2006 and the five-year term of the elected bodies ended in 2011. In the Union Territory, there are five municipalities, two in Puducherry and one each in Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam, and 10 commune panchayats (five each in Puducherry and Karaikal) and 98 village panchayats in total and together there are more than 800 wards.

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PM's raises Puducherry issue

After launching the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday spoke about the alliance of PDP and BJP in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir and also slammed the Congress for not conducting Panchayat polls in Puducherry. The Prime Minister hailed the successful completion of District Development Council (DDC) polls in J&K and said that BJP had broken the alliance with 'a party in the valley' due to disagreements over the DDC polls.

Citing the case of Puducherry where Congress is in power, PM Modi said that BJP government has ensured that polls take place in J&K within a year of abrogation of Article 370, while Congress is not allowing Panchayat or Municipal polls in Puducherry despite being in power in the Union Territory since so many years.

READ | PM Modi Lambasts Congress For Not Conducting Panchayat & Municipal Polls In Puducherry

Taking an indirect dig at Rahul Gandhi's statement that there is "no democracy in India", PM Modi said, "In Delhi, few people criticise Modi. Every day they want to teach a new lesson of democracy to me. I want to tell the people of India that in Puducherry Panchayat and Municipal polls are not being held despite Court's order, those who preach about democracy, their party is ruling in that UT. That party doesn't believe in democracy and therefore they are not allowing the Panchayat polls. But will go on to give me lessons on the same. Some political parties will preach something else and will do something else. Look at Jammu and Kashmir, within a year of becoming a UT, we have conducted polls."

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