Well the elections are coming to an end… or is it? While the State Assembly elections are on the concluding stages (results on March 11), there is another election in the waiting.
The state panchayat elections are all set to be held in the third week of May, as per the recommendations of the State Election Commission.
Panchayat is an institution at the grass root level and it is an autonomous body without any affiliation to the party politics.
Since it is proposed to hold the panchayat elections on party lines, is it wise enough to say whether this proposal is made for the benefit of the villages and villagers or to say that political parties have any other ulterior motive of monetary benefits?
Goa has 191 panchayats comprising over 300 villages.
The state is currently engrossed in a debate whether elections to these panchayats and municipal bodies should be held on party lines.
The ruling BJP in 2012 had proposed that it be on party lines but the idea was put off due to opposition from various quarters.
While a few BJP party leaders feel panchayat polls need to be on party lines for better functioning, the Chief Minister Lamxikant Parsekar feels otherwise.
”Personally, I am of the opinion that panchayat polls should not be on the party lines as people have not accepted it,” Parsekar told Herald in a telephonic conversation.
When pointed out that the BJP had proposed this in 2012 and that the Zilla Parishad Elections were also held on party lines, he said, “It was only on experimental basis and I don’t feel there is any need for that now.”
However, he said, “there is still a lot of time and we have to decide when time comes.”
Holding panchayat elections on political lines is a big ‘no’ to almost 80% of the voting population as these will curtail the liberty of the poor people and will lead to political interference in the working of various village panchayats, activists say.
“The political parties will have a direct say in the functioning of the panchayats and this will just be a hindrance,” says Saligao sarpanch Eknath Oraskar.
Although in Goa the panchayat elections are not officially fought on party lines but unofficially politics and interference of politicians in panchayat functioning exists, he says.
The panchayats, which are presently unofficially ruled by the party which is in power, are not able to oppose the idea of having elections of panchayat at party lines in Goa.
The common opinion is that panchayat should be free from direct party politics as these will affect the village development.
Village panchayat has always been an institution of goodwill and has worked for the upliftment of the villages. But we see that political parties have always interfered in the functioning and working of the staff and panchas by which locals has been sidelined, says Milton Marques, former sarpanch of Verla-Canca panchayat.
“Political parties specially the ruling MLAs, regardless of anything, has put pressure and enforced their say on the village panchayat secretaries and other staff working in respective panchayats,” he said.
Another panch and Goa Forward candidate from Siolim says, “The question arising is, if panchayat elections are held on party lines, will it bring stability to the local self-governing body or will it just be a party affiliation?”.
But there is also a catch here…. In almost three fourth of the states in our country elections to these local bodies are held on party lines.
If Goa has to go the party way for the elections, then necessary amendments have to be made to the Panchayat Act.
There is a view that the involvement of political parties in the panchayat elections is the root cause of violence. West Bengal was the first state to hold elections to the panchayat with the official participation of political parties in June 1978.
Powers to panchayats While many complain that the powers have not been vested upon the panchayats as per the 73rd and 74th Amendment to the Constitution the government feels otherwise.
Chief Minister Parsekar said that often the powers are being misused by the village panchayats.
“The powers given to panchayats are misused and hence the Secretary has been appointed and he monitors that no such things happen,” he says.
