Panchayat elections all set to see multi-cornered contest

With an estimated one-third of the sarpanches out of the total 850 already elected ‘unopposed’ in the district, the contest in most villages is still triangular as 1,709 candidates remain in fray for 632 villages for which elections would be held on October 15.

In the scrutiny following the submission of nomination papers by aspirants, the nomination papers of a total of 247 candidates for the post of sarpanch were rejected on technical grounds.

The residents in rural areas stated that entry of new political entities such as AAP and BJP has made the contest multi-cornered while earlier, the contest was mostly between the two parties, Congress and SAD.

Though elections for the villages are not contested on the symbols of political parties, every party tries to field and support a candidate as they have to strengthen their cadre in the villages.

Said Sarwan Singh, a senior citizen, “Earlier, there used to be only two candidates for the post of sarpanch in most villages as there were two main political parties.” But this time, with AAP and BJP as new entrants in the political arena, the number of aspirants has also gone up, he said.

With the last few days witnessing heated arguments and even violence involving aspirants from political parties, the common residents have been left perturbed. “It is shocking that so many people want to do sewa but are ready to harm each other bodily to do so,” said Joginder Singh, another resident suggesting that if the ruling party is so interested in getting its people elected, then the law should be amended and the government allowed to nominate party workers for these posts.

“At least this would help in maintaining peace and brotherhood in rural areas. Now, people supporting rival factions would not speak to each other for years as their relations would get strained during the campaign,” said another resident, Gurdev Singh.