Punjab State Election Commissioner Raj Kamal Chaudhuri on Wednesday announced the schedule of the gram panchayat polls. The announcement came days after the state Rural Development and Panchayat Department issued a notification that elections to over 13,000-gram panchayats in Punjab will be held by October 20. The Rural Development and Panchayat Department had dissolved the panchayats, which had completed a five-year term in February.
Schedule of Panchayat elections
The Punjab State Election Commission has implemented the Model Code of Conduct (MCC). Here is the schedule of the election process:
- Nomination filling: September 27 to October 4
- No nomination filing on September 29 (Public holiday)
- Scrutiny of nomination papers: October 5
- Withdrawal of nominations: October 7
- Polling: October 15
- Counting of votes: October 15
The polling would be held for 13.237 Sarpanches and 83,437 Panches. The official statement added, "Total electorate consists of 1,33,97,922 registered voters (consisting of 70,51,722 males). 63,46,008 females, and 192 others). The expenditure limit notified for a candidate contesting for the post of Sarpanch is Rs. 40,000/-, whereas for Panch the expenditure limit has been fixed at Rs. 30,000."
Controversy around panchayat dissolution
Notably, all 13,241 gram panchayats were dissolved by the state government in August last year through a notification. However, the AAP government had to withdraw its notification of dissolution of the gram panchayats after the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) challenged its notification in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Eventually, the government suspended its two senior IAS officers for making a "technically flawed" decision on the dissolution of the panchayats.
Punjab Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2024
Earlier this month, The Punjab Assembly passed the Punjab Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2024 which aimed at holding the elections for 'sarpanch' and 'panch' without the symbols of political parties. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had then said that it would remove "groupism" in the villages and ensure holistic development of the rural areas.
(With inputs from agencies)
