Dharamshala, June 27 -- Former Himachal chief minister and Leader of Opposition (LoP) Jai Ram Thakur has accused the Congress government of misusing the administrative machinery to manipulate the outcome of panchayati raj and urban local body elections.

While speaking to the media in Shimla, the LoP alleged that after failing to prevent the elections, the state government is now deliberately delaying the election of chairpersons and vice-chairpersons in an attempt to facilitate horse-trading and overturn the people's mandate.

"The Congress government initially made every possible effort to postpone the elections by invoking the Disaster Act, altering election rules and creating procedural hurdles. However, following the intervention of ...