What a hollow  victory!
Claims by political parties about their political triumph in the panchayat elections does not merit any applause from any quarter. It actually must be regarded with contempt. Political parties’ interference in village-level institutions should necessarily be free from party politics. The claims of victory are based on fraud in several cases. Unfortunately, this is an increasing trend amongst political parties in power, who actually abuse their authority, to manipulate and arm-twist local government officials to claim victory.
There are several examples which reveal various means adopted by political parties to cling on to power. One of the typical characteristics of operation has been the trend set by Union Minister for Home L K Advani, who ensured the    infiltration of BJP cadre in administration at all levels. This was done in anticipation of future utility.
The Constitution makers had deliberately kept out political parties in the panchayati raj system because it was intentionally aimed at making it a community based institution. Party politics is necessarily divisive, while panchayati raj is supposed to help village organization to work cohesively. This is the reason why elections of panchayats are not conducted by the Election Commission of India, rather by the State Election Commission.
Despite the primary objective of the Constitution makers, present day political parties have infiltrated in village bodies to usurp power and glory. This certainly goes against the tenets of panchayati raj.
Panchayati raj institutions have to make village plans by consensus and plan for amenities for the next decade or two, by harnessing the expertise of human resource. Since these institutions are village governments, they also have to see to the optimum and responsible utilization of village resources, especially in context of future shortages with regard to energy, water and food. In order to successfully carry out all these responsibilities, the entire village has to work unitedly.  Since political parties by their very nature creates a feeling of “we” v/s “they,”   they cannot be expected to work unitedly for the welfare of the village.
There is therefore little sanctity in the panchayati raj institution today. In the run up to the elections, there were several complaints of manipulations vis-à-vis delimitation of wards, even blatant carving out of wards which had no geographic continuity. There were houses which were handpicked and placed in a ward without any sane logic. It was on the basis of such hotchpotch delimitation that the elections were conducted. No wonder, we had seen instances of even some aspirants who were seeking to contest, going on a hunger strike to draw the attention of the authorities on the lopsided approach to the   elections.   What was even more absurd was the manner in which authorities ignored all forms of protest  and went ahead with the elections.
So, who was the victor in the panchayat elections? If the BJP seeks to take the credit of being the triumphant party, it raises question of fairness. It’s akin to the elections which normally used to be held in Mynamar, where the military junta often manipulated the poll results. The greater question however is how this victory was achieved -- whether honestly or by deceit. If complaints of wrong delimitation of wards were sorted out to the satisfaction of the people, there would have been some legitimacy to the claims. Now the claims are hollow, devoid of substance.