Sarpanches threaten to oppose BJP candidates on all 10 Haryana seats

Karnal, March 26

In a state-level meeting organised in Jamba village in the district on Tuesday, sarpanches of various districts announced to oppose BJP candidates at all 10 seats. They also announced that they will reach out to all panchayats across the state to make them aware about the anti-panchayat policies of the BJP and urge them to oppose the party’s candidates.

The meeting was chaired by Haryana Sarpanch Association president Ranbir Samain, who called upon all the sarpanches to join hands for their rights under the Panchayati Raj Act and against the e-tendering system. “We have been given an expenditure limit of up to Rs 5 lakh by the government for any development work, which is very less. The earlier panchayats had full authority,” he said. He alleged that the government had snatched powers from the sarpanches by introducing an e-tendering system and now they had limited authority. He said that they had raised the issue at various platforms, but no action had been taken to provide them relief, forcing them to take this step.

“We have opposed the BJP candidate from Karnal Lok Sabha seat and will soon approach all the sarpanches of the state to come forward to oppose the BJP candidates at all 10 seats,” Samain said. Isham Singh, representative of Jamba village sarpanch, said that now sarpanches have no powers . He alleged that the e-tendering process had increased corruption in the system. “We have no rights to even purchase plants or get the construction of small buildings done at our own will,” he said.