Delimitation of wards over, Congress steps in to woo new voters in Uttarakhand

With the process of delimitation of wards over for 86 urban local bodies, the state Congress has jumped in to join the race for adding ‘new voters’ ahead of the civic polls.

Party workers, especially potential candidates, are working to identify youngsters who will be casting their vote for the first time as well as others who are eligible for voting, but are yet to be enrolled in the voters’ list.

Uttarakhand is set to undergo civic polls in April, wherein 86 of the state’s 92 urban local bodies will witness elections, for all of which the delimitation process was wrapped up last week. Elections are not held for Gangotri, Badrinath and Kedarnath local bodies, while there is a court stay on elections in three civic bodies - Bhatrojkhan, Roorkee and Bajpur.

The state Congress leadership has issued instructions to office bearers and leaders to ensure that all residents in their areas were a part of the voters’ list.

“Party workers have been asked to actively identify and then assist people whose names are not in the (voters’) list, to be enrolled as voters. There will be a special focus on roping in youngsters who will turn voters for the first time (in the civic polls),” Mathura Dutt Joshi, chief spokesperson of Uttarakhand Congress, said.

“The aim is to mobilize as many voters as we can before the polls,” he added.

The voters’ enrolment drive will also be held in the rural belts, which were recently incorporated in the adjoining urban local bodies as part of the BJP-led state government’s move to carry out “expansion” of 41 local bodies.

Meanwhile, at a meeting convened at the state Congress headquarters in Dehradun on Monday, the Congress leaders were delegated responsibilities for making the party’s upcoming bike rally in the state capital on January 29 a “grand success”.