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Politics creeps into gram panchayat elections

S. Rajendran and Nagesh Prabhu

Parties giving support to candidates is no longer a secret

Polls are supposed to be held on apolitical lines
Parties are fielding candidates, without symbols

Bangalore: Elections to nearly 5,500 gram panchayats in the State should be strictly conducted on apolitical lines as envisaged under the Panchayat Raj Act, but political parties in Karnataka, including the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, do not really seem to care for the law and are fielding candidates, obviously without party symbol, with the larger aim to gain strength in the grassroots bodies.

Sources in the three main political parties — the BJP, the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) — told The Hindu that political parties extending support to candidates in the gram panchayat elections is no longer a secret.

The fact is that the gram panchayats constitute the lowest rung in the political network and the elected members play an important role not merely in the elections to the taluk and the zilla panchayats but also to the legislature as well.

For the BJP, which has been having a good run in successive elections in the State, gaining an upper hand in the gram panchayats is a matter of prestige.

Unlike elections to the Legislative Assembly and the city corporations, there is no limit on expenditure on candidates contesting the gram panchayat elections given the fact that the elections are conducted on an apolitical basis, State Election Commission officials have said.

Elections to the gram panchayats are conducted in accordance with the provisions of the Karnataka Panchayat Raj (Conduct of Elections) Rules, 1993, in which there is no mention of a ceiling on expenditure incurred by the contesting candidates.

Reports have it that a new brand of politics has been introduced for the gram panchayat elections in which low-profile candidates are being eased out to ensure unanimous elections.

It is said that influential leaders have been entrusted with the job of arranging meetings between village elders and candidates to strike deals, the main reason being the money being made over to the panchayats under the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. Karnataka has an ambitious plan to derive at least Rs. 3,500 crore in this financial year under the job scheme.

Elections to 5,476 gram panchayats in the State will be held in two phases, on May 8 and 12, to elect 88,245 members. Elections will not be held to 150 gram panchayats whose term expires after July 2010.

Officials said that till Thursday over 20,000 candidates had filed nomination papers in different districts where elections are to be held in the first phase. April 26 is the last date for filing nomination papers for contesting the elections in the first phase. More than 4,500 candidates filed nomination papers in districts where elections are to be held on May 12.

Candidates belonging to the general category have to deposit Rs. 200 at the time of filing nomination papers, and for candidates belonging to the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, Backward Classes and women it is Rs. 100.

Officials said that there has been no violation of the model code of conduct that has been in force since April 15.

The code of conduct is applicable only in areas that come under the jurisdictions of gram, taluk and zilla panchayats.

It will not be applicable in town panchayats, town municipal councils, city municipal councils and city corporations.

Officials in the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj told The Hindu that the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Scheme had suffered a setback following declaration of the elections to panchayats.

The gram panchayats serve as nodal agencies in the identification of beneficiaries under the scheme.

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