Panchayat elections have been announced in the villages. Preparations have been started by those who want to contest these elections. A total of 784 nominations have been filed for the post of Sarpanchs and a total of 1446 nominations for Panchs across Punjab. The State Election Commission has given this information. Nomination papers are to be submitted by October 4. There will be a big increase in the number of nomination papers in the last days.
A marriage-like atmosphere is being created in the villages, because all kinds of means will be adopted to win the elections. Drugs will also be used on a large scale to sway votes in their favor. Although drugs have drowned us, but still this phenomenon continues here.
During the elections, the mutual fraternity is also destroyed. The villages which were symbols of mutual community relations, now the same villages become the center of conflicts in these elections.
Panchayats bid, election commission in action
On the one hand, where there are reports of conflicts and unanimous election of panchayats due to factionalism, for the first time in the history of panchayat elections of Punjab, there has been a trend of bidding in villages to become sarpanch unanimously. The matter of bidding up to two crore rupees to become a sarpanch in village Hardowal Kalan of Dera Baba Nanak assembly constituency is making headlines. BJP leader Atma Singh has made the highest bid so far. An announcement was made from the Gurdwara Sahib about the bid for the post of Sarpanch in the village. After this the process started. It has been learned that no representative of Aam Aadmi Party, Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal has come forward to bid.
On the other hand, Gurdaspur DC Uma Shankar Gupta took notice of the news in the media and directed the ADC to investigate.
Wal Atam Singh, who bid 2 crores for Sarpanchi, now withdraws from the bid of 2 crores, saying that the residents of the village want to cast their votes. Bid money will not be paid now.
Earlier, the bidding for the seat of Sarpanch in Panchayat Kothe Chidewali of Village Kotli of Vidhan Sabha Constituency Giddarbaha of District Sri Muktsar Sahib had reached 35 lakhs.
The practice of bidding for leading posts is in violation of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment which mandates free and fair elections for Panchayat representatives and also in violation of the Punjab Panchayati Raj Act which provides no place for financial bidding but votes. It is necessary to get
After this news was published, the leader of the opposition, Pratap Singh Bajwa, called it open corruption and demanded an investigation from the vigilance.
AAP has opposed the ongoing open auction for the election of Sarpanch and Panch in some places in the state before the Panchayat elections. The delegation led by senior AAP leader and state finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema met the state election commissioner and demanded appropriate action against those involved in illegal activities.
Taking strict notice of the auction of the post of Sarpanchi in the Panchayat elections, the Punjab State Election Commission has called for a report from the Deputy Commissioners. On the orders of the Election Commission, the Punjab government has appointed Paramveer Singh as the new deputy commissioner in place of Tarn Taran Deputy Commissioner Gulpreet Singh Aulakh. This is the first major action taken by the Election Commission in view of the Panchayat elections.
