Davangere: While the campaign for the gram panchayat (GP) polls is gaining pace across the state, here is a village which has no history of conducting elections but is now gearing up for the election for the first time.
The GP election will be held for the first time in Lingadahalli village, seven km away from the district headquarters where members used to be elected unopposed to three gram panchayat seats. When those who got an opportunity to serve the people last time demanded one more term, another group opposed it and filed nominations for the GP polls.
Of the three seats in the village, one member has been elected unopposed while four are in fray for the remaining two seats.n Anand Naik has been elected unanimously and B.M. Nagaraj, K.N. Karibasappa, Siddamma and Sunitha are in the fray.
Four villages- Basavanalu, Gollarahatti, Lingadahalli and Rampur come under Basavanalu gram panchayat limits. Of eight seats under Basavanalu GP, two members have been elected unopposed and elections will be held for six seats.
Lingadahalli has a 1000 strong population and 600 voters. Two factions used to elect members unopposed by striking a compromise. Mr. K.N. Karibasappa was promised that he would be made GP member during the last GP polls. When village elders reneged on their promise, he decided to contest the poll.
Mr. K. Shambulinga of Lingadahalli village told Deccan Chronicle that the polls had become inevitable because of ego issues. “We had requested our opponents to withdraw nominations saying we will donate Rs 2-5 lakh to the temple committee. The election is inevitable as both groups are not ready to take back their nominations.”
One lakh women candidates: This poll set to erase the gender bias!
A record number of womencandidates——more than a lakh—are in the fray in polls to Gram Panchayats scheduled for May 29 and June 2, according to Commissioner, State Election Commission (SEC), P N Srinivasachari.
He told the media here that 2, 33, 493 candidates will vie for 94, 348 seats in 5,835 Gram Panchayats. Of the total number of seats, 901 are vacant because none has submitted nomination papers, while 8687 members have been elected unanimously. The SEC would set up 37, 754 polling stations, and has identified 8515 polling booths as sensitive and 6167 polling booths as hyper-sensitive. In all, 2, 78, 50,874 people would exercise their franchise in the polls, he said, adding that all deputy commissioners have been directed to ensure free and fair polls.
“The State Election Commission has written to the state government in August 2014 and 2015, requesting to allow the commission to prepare delimitation and roaster system for Gram Pachayat elections. Since the power is vested with the state government, we have requested the government to handover that decision to the Commission. If the governments allow us to prepare a roaster system, it will help the commission conduct elections on time. The Panchayat Raj amendment bill has instructed the commission to give only four days time for campaign, but deputy commissioners have suggested that candidates need time to print and distribute pamphlets regarding their symbols. Therefore, we have given six days for campaign”, Mr. Srinivasachari added.
Since ballot papers are being used for elections, the commission has not offered NOTA option. Electronic voting machines will be introduced for the first time in the elections in Bidar on an experimental basis, the Commissioner said in response to a question.
