Villages to be in poll mode for four months

CRUCIAL Now, it is the turn for village pradhan elections

The state’s rural areas are will continue to witness poll action for the next four-five months as the three-tier panchayat elections are slated to take palace one after another in quick succession.

With the counting of votes for the month-long phased zila panchayat and the kshetra panchayat member polls over on Tuesday, the state election commission (SEC) has begun gearing up for the next round of the rural elections. Now, it is the turn for village pradhan polls—the crucial electoral battle that is fought most keenly in villages.

The commission is expected to issue a notification and a detailed programe for the village pradhan polls here on Saturday after which the code of conduct will come into force again after a brief interval of a couple of days. To be held in at least four phases, the polls will be over by mid-December when over 60,000 new village panchayats will be in place.

These elections will, however, be followed quickly by another round of polls. On the one hand, the village pradhan polls will be over. On the other hand, the commission will be preparing for the zila panchayat chief elections, the rural polls that the political parties are most interested in. The term of the sitting zila panchayat chairpersons will be coming to an end in mid-January which means that commission will have to hold elections before that to elect new zila panchayat chiefs who will be chosen by the newly elected zila panchayat members.

But there will be little reprieve even after the elections to the post of zila panchayat chiefs come to an end. This is because the term of the present block pramukhs or block development council chiefs will be expiring on March 17 and the state election commission will have to hold the fresh polls before that to elect new block chiefs by the newly elected kshetra panchayat members.

“In fact, our hands are full till March and villagers have a lot of drama and action in store because of panchayat polls for various levels due to take place back to back,” said an official, adding, “After the panchayat polls are over in March, the state will already in the assembly elections mode.”