Punjab: Panchayat elections likely to be held next month

Punjab: The elections to 13,241 panchayats across the state are likely to be held next month, almost immediately after the Vidhan Sabha elections in Haryana. While the panchayat elections are expected be held in mid-October, the elections to 150 panchayat samitis and 23 zila parishads will be held later.

The elections to the Municipal Corporations of Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Patiala and Phagwara will be held last, it is learnt. The State Election Commission, which oversees these elections, has also released the list of symbols on which candidates can contest the panchayat elections.

The Vidhan Sabha recently amended the Punjab Panchayat Election Rules to ensure that no one could contest panchayat elections on party symbols. The amendments are awaiting the Governor’s assent.

The Rural Development and Panchayats Department has set the ball rolling for the rural civic body elections. The government has started releasing funds for the development of villages, in anticipation of the elections being formally announced anytime now. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has released Rs 50 crore from his discretionary quota for development projects in various villages.

The government has also amended the Punjab Panchayati Raj Act so as to allow the ruling party to change the roster for reserving wards for Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Classes. This also awaits the nod from the Governor. The panchayats in the state were dissolved in February this year. Since then, administrators have been appointed to look after the routine works.