Punjab to hold panchayat elections on October 15

The elections to the 13,327 panchayats in the state will be held on October 15.

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While announcing the election schedule, State Election Commissioner Raj Kamal Chaudhary on Wednesday said the nominations can be filed from September 27 to October 4.

There will be a total of 19,110 polling booths. The expenditure limit for the sarpanches is Rs 40,000 and for panches Rs 30,000.

Since the AAP government has amended the Punjab Panchayati Raj Act, 1994, to empower itself to change the reservation roster, taking block as a unit, there will be changes in villages that will get SC sarpanches. It may be mentioned that during the previous panchayat elections in 2018, the district was taken as a unit to reserve seats for sarpanches.

The reservation for sarpanches is being done by taking into account the census report of 2011. The Congress, during its regime between 2017 and 2022, had reserved 50 per cent wards for women. The same practice will continue now as well. This reservation for women will be in both reserved and general seats for sarpanches.

It is only after the roster for reservation has been finalised by the district administration that the poll process will be rolled out, within the next two days. The schedule for the elections will be announced, voter list and supplementary lists prepared and ballot papers readied by the State Election Commission.