Stage for panchayat polls set in Punjab

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 13

Setting the ball rolling for elections to 13,278 gram panchayats, the Punjab Government has asked the State Election Commission to complete the process by December 15. 

Sources said the Rural Development and Panchayat Department had told the poll panel it was “ready" for the polls and that polling and counting could be held the same day.

For the first time, 50 per cent of panchayat seats have been reserved for women candidates, as suggested by Rural Development Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa. Elections to the rural bodies were last held in August 2013. These were dissolved in July this year after their term ended. Subsequently, no funds were allotted and development work in villages almost came to a halt.

The Congress government, on assuming power in 2017, had stopped all village works started by the previous SAD-BJP government under the Rural Mission programme. This was done following allegations that 50 per cent of the allotted funds had been siphoned, especially in the Malwa region. 

Development projects in the villages will be resumed after the panchayat polls.

Coming close on the heels of Block Samiti and Zila Parishad elections (September 19), the panchayat elections are expected to indicate the political mood in the state and set the tone for the 2019 polls. Candidates backed by the SAD-BJP had swept the 2013 panchayat polls. With the alliance out of power and SAD’s rural base hit in the aftermath of the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission report on sacrilege incidents, a repeat performance is unlikely. With AAP split, it seems Congress has the edge.

Meanwhile, the CM permitted transfers sought by the  Rural Development Department so that “suitable” officers are posted.

IN A NUTSHELL

• Panchayat elections to be held before December 15
• 13,278 gram panchayats to be elected
• Last panchayat election was held in August 2013
• Panchayats dissolved in July after five-year tenure