With eye on poll, political parties out to woo panchayat members

Arteev Sharma
Tribune News Service
Jammu, January 9

With the Centre planning to hold simultaneous parliamentary and Assembly elections in J&K, various political groups are on a “mission” to woo and bring panchayat members into their respective folds “to increase their victory prospects” in the state.

Over the last few weeks, leaders of major political parties, including the BJP, NC, Congress and PDP, have been visiting elected panchayat members, including sarpanches and panches, “to lure them for different agendas to ensure that they join their parties”.

If the stakeholders are to be believed, political parties have identified the vote bank that they can gain by having sarpanches and panches with them.

Anil Sharma, state convener of the BJP Panchayati Raj and Border Cell, admitted that nearly 900 sarpanches and panches have joined the saffron party in J&K since the final phase of the panchayat elections that concluded on December 11 last year.

“We have launched a state-wide campaign to bring the newly elected sarpanches and panches into the BJP fold to achieve the larger goal of empowered Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in J&K and strengthen the party at the grass-roots level,” Sharma said.

Harsh Dev Singh, chairman of the Panthers Party, claimed that there were half-dozen Assembly constituencies where a good number of sarpanches and panches had joined them.

Shafiq Mir, chairman of the All Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat Conference (AJKPC), said: “Political parties consider it easy to connect with people through elected panchayat members. They understand that sarpanches and panches have a direct influence on people and they can play a crucial role in the coming Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.”

The AJKPC said the parties, which first opposed and then boycotted the panchayat elections, had no moral right to politicise PRIs for their political goals.

“From 2011 to 2016, at least 16 panchayat members were gunned down because they were affiliated to some political parties. These political groups are doing no favour to panchayat members by putting them at risk, particularly in the Kashmir valley,” he added.

The state has 4,490 panchayats — 2,369 in Kashmir and 2,121 in Jammu – and there are at least 35,096 panch wards: 18,785 in Kashmir and 16,311 in Jammu.

Guv to attend sarpanches’ oath ceremony  

Jammu: Governor Satya Pal Malik will be presiding over a function to administer oath to the elected sarpanches of the Jammu division on January 11. The oath ceremony of 2,121 sarpanches, the first of its kind, will be held at Gulshan Ground in Jammu. The function is being organised by the rural development department and the Assistant Commissioners (Development) of all 10 districts of the Jammu division have been told to nominate a block development officer from their respective district for the ceremony. The panchayat elections in the state were conducted in nine phases from November 17 to December 11 last year. There are 4,490 panchayats in the state. TNS