THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Six district panchayats, nine block panchayats, 28 grama panchayats, six municipalities and the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, covering almost 40 per cent of the Assembly constituencies in the State, are unlikely to go to the polls in September, as the Local Self-Government Department has not yet finalised the number of wards falling under these local self-Government institutions (LSGIs).

The deadline set by the Government for issuing the notification delimiting the wards is May 31. With hardly five working days left, the notification is unlikely to be issued on time as no steps have been initiated to expedite the process.

Department sources told The Hindu that delimitation of wards had not been completed in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Thrissur, Malappuram, Kozhikode and Kannur district panchayats, the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, Neyyatinkara, Kunnamkulam, Ponnani, Koyilandi, Thalassery and Taliparamba municipalities, nine block panchayats, including Kazhakoottam, Perumgadavila, Nemom and Athiyanoor, and 28 grama panchayats, including Attipra, Nemom, Perumpazhuthoor and Thiruvallam in Thiruvananthapuram district.

The majority of the LSGIs where the process has not been completed are in Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur, Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram districts.

The department's failure to meet the May 31 deadline would in turn render impossible the completion, before September, of statutory proceedings connected with delimitation. On publishing the draft proposals, the public should be given time to file complaints, if any, on formation of new wards. Public hearings should be conducted and suggestions aired be collected before publishing the final list. As the election notification has to be issued in August, all these mandatory proceedings should be completed within the next two months. Given the pace of things, it is highly unlikely that these would be over within the stipulated time, sources said.

Any lapse in conducting the elections to the three-tier panchayats simultaneously would bring huge financial burden on the exchequer. A voter in a grama panchayat has to cast three votes and if election to any of the three bodies is deferred, the entire process would have to be repeated all over again in all the six districts where the required processes remains incomplete, sources said.

The Government has decided that the elections be conducted immediately after Onam. The new committees of the LSGIs are expected to take charge on October 1. Once the election is notified, the model code of conduct would come into force and the Government would not be able to launch any new projects. The election process would be over only after October 2 and it would take at least two months for the State Election Commission to start the election proceedings once again.

Hence, the deferred elections are likely to be held only in January 2006. But Assembly elections are also due in 2006. If both the elections come together, development projects in the LSGIs would come to a complete halt for nearly a year. Moreover, the LSGIs where elections are not held would come under the governance of administrators appointed by the Government. This is seen as a bid to subvert the decentralisation of powers, sources said.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Kerala

News: Front Page | National | Tamil Nadu | Andhra Pradesh | Karnataka | Kerala | New Delhi | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous | Engagements |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | Updates: Breaking News |