Punjab: AAP restores block-wise quota for rural civic poll

The AAP government in the state has restored the old practice of block-wise reservation for appointing sarpanches for the upcoming panchayat elections, without this aspect of the amendments to the Punjab Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Bill being discussed in the Vidhan Sabha session that ended on Wednesday.

Earlier political moves on the issue

• During the 2013 panchayat elections (SAD- BJP rule), the basic unit for making the roster for reservation was a block
• Under the Congress government, the basic unit for effecting reservation was changed to district in 2018
• At that time, the reservation for women in panchayat institutions was increased from 33% to 50% and using that increase as an excuse, the Cong govt prepared a new roster for reservation

By making these amendments, the government is empowering its MLAs in having a say in the rotation of reservation of wards and thus deciding on who they would like to be the candidates for the posts of village sarpanch and chairman and vice-chairman of the block samitis and zila parishads.

In other words, their choice of candidate can determine if the ward will be reserved, and if so, for which category. In the long run, this practice will help the party strengthen its grassroot-level cadre.

When the Bill was laid on the table in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha on Wednesday, CM Bhagwant Mann said it dealt with amendments to the Panchayati Raj Election Rules that would bar panches and sarpanches from contesting the poll on party symbols.

The Bill was unanimously okayed by the House. Though the Bill’s statement of objects and reasons mentioned that the government was making amendments to Section 12 of the Act, most Opposition leaders apparently did not read it and thought the only amendments being made were to Section 12 of the Punjab Panchayat Election Rules to stop people from contesting elections on party symbols.

“Though it is the prerogative of the government to change the roster for reservation, we were not aware that this has been done. During our regime, we also changed the roster and made the district a unit for changing the roster,” a senior Congress MLA told The Tribune.

This Bill will now be sent to the Governor for approval. After the new amendment under Section 12(4) of the Punjab Panchayati Raj Act, every block will be considered a unit for the purpose of reservation of the posts of sarpanch, whereas earlier it was done by taking each district as a unit. Now, the roster for SC, SC women and general category candidates will be prepared afresh. As the old roster would become invalid, the AAP government would be free to decide which seat it wanted to be reserved.

The Cabinet okayed the Bill on August 14. It was then reasoned that the previous roster made by the Congress government for the reservation of seats under the Punjab Reservation for Offices of Sarpanches of Gram Panchayats and Chairmen and Vice Chairmen of Panchayat Samitis and Zila Parishads Rules, 1994, ignored the actual population of a particular block. As a result, candidates from all categories did not get proper representation, it was said.