M A I N   N E W S

Panchayat poll on schedule
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 27
The Punjab State Election Commissioner, Mr C.L. Bains, today said the panchayat poll would be held as scheduled on June 29. Commenting on the news reports appearing in the Press today to the effect that the poll might be postponed, Mr Bains said the process had already begun and would be completed as per the schedule. ‘’There should be no confusion or doubts about this,’’ he said.

In the morning he had held a meeting with the Secretary and Director, Rural Development and Panchayats, where certain doubts and clarifications sought by the field staff from the commission and the government were discussed. Later, necessary instructions were sent to all Deputy Commissioners and even a public notice was issued.

Mr Bains said the earlier instructions, issued on April 22, now stood withdrawn and fresh instructions had been faxed to all districts after he had had a meeting with the officers concerned this morning. In sum, the new instructions to all district election officers were that they should ‘’follow the original notification of each village indicating the total number of seats of the panches, including sarpanches, and adhere to the number of seats allocated for each category and these shall remain intact—neither increase nor decrease’’.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Rural Development and Panchayats, Ms Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, who has just returned from abroad, told TNS that there was no question of postponement of the panchayat elections. These would be held as per rules and schedule and there would be no change in the categories already identified. (The Punjab Government has also issued a press note denying the postponement of the panchayat elections).

On the contrary, she congratulated those panchayats where panches and sarpanches had been elected unanimously. She reiterated that, as already announced, all such gram panchayats where elections were unanimous would get the promised special grant of Rs 2 lakh each.

The Secretary, Mr J.R. Kundal, said so far, 2,177 gram panchayats had been elected unanimously in the state. The number of panches elected unanimously is 12,000. The district-wise break-up is as follows: Amritsar,197, Bathinda, 21, Faridkot, 19, Fatehgarh Sahib, 78, Gurdaspur, 235, Hoshiarpur, 236, Jalandhar, 175, Kapurthala, 168, Ludhiana, 157, Mansa, 20, Moga, 39, Muktsar, 19, Nawanshahr, 101, Patiala, 171, Roopnagar, 206, and Sangrur, 82.

A pro-active Commission

The Election Commission has recommended or taken action against those officials who were found ‘’negligent in performing their duties or had rejected the nomination papers of the candidates with ulterior motives’’. Likewise, action has also been taken or recommended against candidates who had adopted unfair means either to get elected or have the papers of others rejected.

According to the State Election Commissioner, Mr C. L. Bains, the Tehsildar, Kharar , was placed under suspension allegedly for changing the girdawari from the name of Jasbir Singh to help him in contesting the election for the post of Sarpanch.

The Deputy Commissioner, Jalandhar, Mr Ashok Kumar Gupta, has been directed to register a criminal case against Sucha Singh, a candidate for the post of Sarpanch of Chakala village, allegedly for producing a forged jamabandi/farad with an affidavit to get the papers of the other candidates rejected.

Meanwhile, the commission has ordered the postponement of elections of sarpanches of four villages— Dhandari Khurd, Tehsil Jalalabad in Ferozepore, Kote Umra, Block Sidhwan in Ludhiana, Sante Majra, Block Kharar, Ropar, and Chakrala, Block Jalandhar in Jalandhar.