Ranchi, Feb. 8 -- Leader of Opposition and former chief minister Babulal Marandi launched a scathing attack on the Hemant Soren-led government on Sunday, accusing it of deliberately crippling urban governance and fostering a "system of illegal extortion" across Jharkhand's municipal bodies over the last six years.

Through a message on X, Marandi alleged that the state government suppressed the democratic rights of urban citizens by refusing to hold timely elections. He claimed that the government moved toward the current civic polls only after facing "repeated reprimands" from the judiciary.

The BJP leader highlighted that the terms of 15 municipal bodies expired in 2020, followed by the remaining bodies in 2023. Instead of conducting e...