Shimla, Oct 30,
The monthly meeting of the Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) on Thursday witnessed a major uproar as BJP and Congress councilors clashed over the recent government decision to extend the tenure of the Mayor and Deputy Mayor from two and a half years to five years. The meeting, chaired by Mayor Surendra Chauhan, was repeatedly disrupted as BJP councilors launched a protest inside the House, accusing the government of tampering with the established roster system for rotational posts.
Take Free HimachalScape Subscription Complete this form
Choose Your Membership
Tension erupted soon after the meeting began, when BJP councilors raised slogans and staged a sit-in in front of the Mayor’s chair, demanding that the roster system—under which the Mayor and Deputy Mayor posts were to rotate every two and a half years, with a provision for women’s reservation—be restored. They alleged that the Sukhu government’s decision to extend the tenure amounted to “denying women their due representation.”
Amid the chaos, Mayor Surendra Chauhan tried to pacify the protesting members and offered to send a proposal to the state government reflecting the sentiments of the House. However, the BJP councilors rejected the offer, insisting that the matter be brought before the House for a fresh vote. As the uproar continued, the proceedings were adjourned till after lunch.
BJP councilors Kalyan Dhiman, Kamlesh Mehta, Asha Sharma, and Bittu Kumar Pana led the protest, maintaining that the change violated the previous arrangement, under which the Mayor and Deputy Mayor were elected for half terms to ensure rotation and gender representation. “We are not against any individual, but against the manipulation of the roster. Women have a right to their turn as per the rules,” said Kamlesh Mehta.
Councilor Bittu Kumar Pana demanded that elections for the posts be held again through voting, while Kalyan Dhiman warned that the protest would continue unless the government reversed its decision.
The protest reflected growing political tensions following the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu government’s move earlier this month to extend the term of Mayors and Deputy Mayors across the state’s municipal corporations from two and a half years to five years, effectively ending the roster-based rotation system that had been in place for the past decade.
With the BJP firm on its demand and the Congress defending the extension as an administrative reform for “continuity and stability,” the controversy is expected to intensify in the coming days.
