Term over, Rural Dept dissolves 76 panchayat samitis
Punjab’s Rural Development and Panchayats Department has dissolved 76 of the total 153 Panchayat Samitis upon the completion of their five-year term.
The orders for dissolution of the remaining samitis would be done in the coming days, depending upon the schedule of the completion of their respective terms, said officials aware about the matter.
The state has already dissolved 13,241 gram panchayats. Under Section 114-A of the Panchayati Raj Act, the District Development and Panchayats Officers (DDPOs) have been appointed administrators to manage the affairs of the samitis till further notice.
Secretary, Rural Development and Panchayats, Dilraj Singh, ordered the dissolution of samitis. The elections to the rural bodies are expected to be held in November-end and the elections to the gram panchayats are expected to be held by December 31.
The government has recently amended the Punjab Panchayat Election Rules, 1994, to ensure no one contests panchayat poll on party symbol. Though the panchayat elections in Punjab are not contested on party symbol, candidates in the fray can tell the State Election Commission that they belong to a particular political outfit and like to have the party symbol allocated to them.
Sources said the state government intends to hold the panchayat poll after the bypoll to four Assembly segments of Dera Baba Nanak, Chabbewal, Barnala and Gidderbaha. The bypoll has been necessitated after MLAs of these constituencies were elected to the Lok Sabha in June.
Recently, the AAP government has — through amendment to the Punjab Panchayati Raj Act — restored the old practice of block-wise reservation for appointing sarpanches for the upcoming panchayat elections. 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.
