Deliberate delay in UP municipal polls to help BJP: Cong's Nasimuddin Siddiqui

Congress leader and former Uttar Pradesh minister Nasimuddin Siddiqui on Wednesday alleged that election authorities were deliberately delaying announcement of municipal polls in the state to help the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

Congress leader and former Uttar Pradesh minister Nasimuddin Siddiqui on Wednesday alleged that election authorities were deliberately delaying announcement of municipal polls in the state to help the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Siddiqui, who was expelled from the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), had joined the Congress where he was last month made its zonal president for western Uttar Pradesh. He is Congress' in-charge for Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Baghpat, Bulandshahr, Ghaziabad, Meerut, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Bijnor, Hapur, Amroha, Moradabad, Rampur and Sambhal.

He was in Noida as part of a tour in the region to interact with party workers and review preparation for the upcoming municipal elections in the state.

''Congress is taking the local municipal elections seriously. However, there is a deliberate delay in announcement of the polls by election authorities. They may announce reservation on some seats at the last moment, but could have secretly passed on this information to the ruling (BJP) party, helping it prepare better for the polls,'' Siddiqui alleged.

''The message is clear that free and fair elections are difficult to conduct. If elections are held in a fair and unbiased manner, then Congress will perform better,'' he told reporters.

On the occasion, over two dozen people including some who have left the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party, joined the party, said a local Congress leader Anil Yadav. Pankhuri Pathak, who had unsuccessfully contested Noida assembly polls earlier this year, said, ''We have seen in the last state assembly polls that Congress workers under Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's leadership put in lot of efforts.'' ''I am sure in coming times we will be able to rebuild a strong Congress,'' she added. Municipal polls in Uttar Pradesh are scheduled by the end of the year but the dates are yet to be announced by the state election commission.

Notable, Noida, which falls in Gautam Buddh Nagar district, does not have any municipal body. However, parts of adjoining Greater Noida has municipal bodies including Jewar, Dadri, Dankaur, Rabupura, Bilaspur and Jahangirpur.