Nothing but the fear of defeatis making the ruling Congress in Andhra Pradesh shy away fromholding elections to Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) and PanchayatRaj Institutions (PRIs) for several months now.
The term of elected councils in ULBs ended way back inSeptember 2010 while that of PRIs expired in August 2011.
Since then, they are being run by "Special Officers",with an extension every six months, in total violation of theprovisions of Constitution 73 and 74 Amendment Acts.
That the eight-year-old Congress government has beenfacing a strong anti-incumbency is no news. Barring the twoseats in last month's by-elections to the state Assembly, theCongress did not register a single victory in successiveby-polls in the last two years.
The ruling party has been reduced to a naught in theTelangana region because of its indecisiveness on thestatehood issue and the scene is no different even inAndhra-Rayalseema regions as well.
If it brought the ULBs under the Special Officers'rule, immediately after their term expired in September 2010,due to the Telangana factor, the spectre of the infant YSRCongress prevented it from holding the elections in the laterperiod.
Same was the case with the PRIs.
History also suggests that the Congress neverperformed greatly in the elections to local bodies in thestate and it employed dubious tactics like holding indirectelection for the posts of MayorMunicipal Chairperson andmandal and Zilla Parishad chairperson.
In 2005, for example, the Congress "captured" power inmany ULBs only with the help of its MPs and MLAs, who areex-officio members of the respective councils, though itdidn't win majority of the seats. Same was the case in manyZilla Parishads in 2006.
The Congress is taking cover under an ongoinglitigation in court on the reservation of seats for backwardclasses in the local bodies to inordinately defer theelections.