Congress Government Accused of Crushing Democracy and Misusing Power

Addressing a press conference in Shimla on Saturday, Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur accused the Congress government of crushing democracy, insulting the mandate of the people and misusing the government machinery to influence the outcome of the panchayat and municipal elections. He said that the Congress government had earlier wanted to postpone the elections at all costs, but after the intervention of the High Court and ultimately the Supreme Court, the elections had to be held. Despite this, the government was now deliberately delaying the elections of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker so as to give time for horse-trading and pressurizing the people's representatives. Jai Ram Thakur said that the Congress government had a premonition that the people would vote against it. This was the reason that sometimes the Disaster Management Act was resorted to, sometimes the rules were changed and sometimes attempts were made to disrupt the election process. Elections were held after the directions of the Supreme Court, but now the government is engaged in stalling the democratic process instead of accepting the mandate.