Arunachal panchayat elections to be held soon on party basis

Panchayat elections in Arunachal Pradesh, which has been pending for a year, will soon be held on party basis, the state Assembly was informed on Monday. The structure of the three-tier Panchayati Raj system will be changed to a two-tier one leaving out the Anchal Samiti, Panchayat Minister Bamang Felix said. Responding to a short-duration discussion by Congress member Ninong Ering on "no party system for panchayat election", Felix said the government has decided to conduct the polls on party basis. The Congress had amended the state Panchayati Raj Act to conduct elections on party basis which cannot be changed now due to scarcity of time, he said.

"So we will go for this election as and where basis except change in the structure from three-tier Panchayati Raj system to a two-tier one," Felix said. The minister said the state government has already informed the State Election Commission to issue notification for holding panchayat polls in the state soon.

Since delimitation process of new districts and electoral roll revision exercise have been completed, the government is ready to conduct the rural polls pending for a year due to change in the structure of the Panchayati Raj system, Felix said. The change in structure meant doing away with the Anchal Samiti, the intermediate level of the three-tier Panchayati Raj system, to set up a two-tier system, involving Gram Panchayats and Zilla Parishads.

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