NEW DELHI: With the State Election Commission giving a final nod to the new delimitation of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi wards in the Capital, the decks have been cleared for holding of civic polls under a new regime.

However, opinion is sharply divided within the Congress over holding of the polls on schedule in view of the strong resentment prevailing among the masses over the issues of price rise, poor water and power situation and the sealing and demolition drives in the Capital.

Highly placed sources informed that the party was strongly divided on whether to hold the MCD polls on time or postpone them for some time to allow the situation to settle down before facing the electorate.

Although officially the Congress party has maintained that it was not in favour of delaying the polls and was gearing up to contest them as per schedule, the situation is quite different among those who are involved with the decision making on the issue. "Consultations are already on within the Congress party at the local and All-India Congress Committee level to debate the issue of holding polls on time.

The AICC leaders are trying to get a feedback from the ground level workers and leaders in order to assess the situation and then take a decision on what course should be adopted," sources added.

It is also learnt that the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee has reportedly submitted a note to the Congress high command clearly stating that the party was in a bad shape and the issues ranging from price rise, poor water and power situation and sealing, demolitions were going to count strongly in any future polls.

"The poor opinion about the Government on the issue of power and water and also the sky rocketing of prices of essential commodities along with the latest episode of sealing and demolitions will rock the party's boat in the MCD polls," the note is learnt to have stated.

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