Panchayat elections in Sept, govt to send plan to state EC

READY, SAYS MINISTER Term of zila parishads & block samitis ends on July 9 and that of gram panchayats on August 9; officials to manage show till polls

CHANDIGARH: With the department of rural development and panchayats preparing a proposal for holding panchayat elections for the state election commission, the polls will take place in the last week of September. There are 22 panchayats, 144 block samitis and at least 13,400 zila parishads in the state.

The term of zila parishads and block samitis ends on July 9; gram panchayats end their tenure on August 9.

Till the time the elections are held, the government will have to appoint administrators in all these bodies, as an interim arrangement.

The last elections were held in 2013 during the tenure of the SAD-BJP government.

In June, the state cabinet had increased reservation for women in panchayati raj institutions and urban local bodies from 33% to 50%. This was one of the promises that the Congress had made during campaigning for 2017 assembly elections.

“Now, everything is in place. We are ready. My department will send the case to the state election commission to make a formal announcement for the poll process to begin. We want to complete the election process by September 30,” said rural development and panchayat minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa. He added that polls would take place in the last week of September.

CONG MLAS WANTED A SAY IN WARD RESERVATION

Due in July and August, the polls had to be delayed, as in May, MLAs of the ruling Congress party demanded a say in deciding wards to be reserved for women and Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates. The group of 12 legislators had also taken the plea that candidates for each of the wards must be discussed threadbare.

The Congress has 78 MLAs in the 117-member assembly.

The government had accepted that the issues that the MLAs had raised ‘had a basis’ because ‘reservation within reservation had to be settled’. An MLA of the ruling party said, “The forthcoming elections (of panchayats, block samitis and zila parishads) are different from usual, because there’s 50% reservation for women. Selecting right candidates is a big issue,” he said.

“There was not much scope to tweak the system of reservation of wards, because it takes place by rotation, and there is a roster in place. In 2008, the SAD-BJP government ignored the roster, which led to litigation. In 2013, the same government decided to follow the roster,” said an official of the rural development department.

My dept will send the case to the state election commission to make a formal announcement for the poll process to begin. We want to complete the election process by September 30. TRIPT RAJINDER SINGH BAJWA, rural devp and panchayat minister