Punjab: Election campaign for the election of 1,178 panches and 176 sarpanches of villages falling under Malerkotla, Amargarh and Ahmedgarh began on Friday morning with the appointment of assistant returning officers. Though no nomination papers were filed till afternoon on the first day, many candidates along with their supporters reached the offices at designated places to collect the forms required for filing nominations. Ahmedgarh and Malerkotla (additional) SDM Harbans Singh and Amargarh SDM Surinder Kaur said 21 teams of returning officers and assistant returning officers have been deployed at designated places in all the three sub-divisions of the district. They said many villagers collected information and proforma for submitting nomination papers for the posts of sarpanches and panches. They said polling for the posts is scheduled on October 15.
Meanwhile, government employees deployed on election duty for the upcoming panchayat elections have been warned against negligence or deliberate lapses during the entire process. They have been asked to ensure that the elections are conducted in a transparent manner. The direction was given during a special meeting held at the deputy commissioner’s office on Thursday. DC Pallavi said adequate arrangements have been made for holding panchayat elections in 176 villages of the three subdivisions on October 15. “Our intention is to ensure that all voters cast their votes without any pressure, inducement or discrimination,” Pallavi said. The DC said 176 sarpanches and 1,178 panches will be elected by 1,98,503 eligible voters – 1,05,130 men and 93,373 women.
She said 25 seats have been reserved for women sarpanches in 69 villages of Malerkotla block, while nine each have been reserved for candidates belonging to the Scheduled Castes. The DC said that there are 60 villages in Ahmedgarh block, out of which 10 seats have been reserved for women sarpanches and 10 seats for Scheduled Caste candidates, while in Amargarh block (47 villages) 16 seats have been reserved for women and seven seats for Scheduled Caste candidates. Officials said that as per the programme issued in the block level offices, nominations would be accepted from 11 am to 3 pm on working days. He said that the maximum limit of expenditure for the election of Sarpanch has been fixed at Rs 40,000 and for the post of Panch it has been fixed at Rs 30,000.
