Election panel sets the ball rolling for panchayat poll

Rajmeet Singh
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, July 30
Setting the ball rolling for the panchayat elections, the State Election Commission has written to the Panchayats and Rural Development Department to complete the process of reservation for sarpanches. In all, the five-year term of 13,241 panchayats ended on February 15 this year after which administrators were appointed under Section 29-A of the Panchayati Raj Act, 1994.
The latest communication from the State Election Commission comes days after CM Bhagwant Mann held meetings with senior functionaries of the Rural Development and Local Government to review the preparedness for the poll.
Buoyed by the success of AAP in the Jalandhar (West) Assembly bypoll, the ruling party is in a mood to go for the elections to the urban and rural civic bodies, including panchayats, panchayat samitis and zila parishads. Elections to the municipal corporations of Amritsar, Jalandhar, Phagwara, Ludhiana and Patiala are also due.
As per the new rules, the government has decided to revert to district-wise reservation for sarpanches from its previous practice of block-wise reservation. A necessary amendment to the Punjab Reservation of Offices and Sarpanches of Gram Panchayats and Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen of Panchayat Samitis and Zila Parishads Rules, 1994, has already been made regarding rotation of sarpanches in conformity with Section 12(4) of the Panchayati Raj Act, 1994.
The rural and municipal elections will help parties gauge peoples’ mood. The byelections to Dera Baba Nanak, Chabbewal, Barnala and Gidderbaha Assembly constituencies are expected to be announced in September.
In August last year, the government had dissolved all panchayats before the expiry of their five-year term. The state, however, had to withdraw its resolution after the issue came under judicial scrutiny in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Two senior IAS officers were placed under suspension for allegedly misreading Section 15 of the Panchayati Raj Act, which had led the state government to dissolve the panchayats.