Panchayat polls in Punjab on April 7

Chandigarh, Mar 7 (UNI) All Gram Panchayats, Panchayat Samitis and Zila Parishads in Punjab will go to polls on April 7, the State Election Commission announced today.

The polls to all the three Panchayati Raj Insitutions (PRIs) would also be held simultaneously.

The Commission took this decision in pursuance to the notification of the State government issued some time back.

The detailed programme of the polls shall be issued separately, an Election Commission spokesman stated.

The model code of conduct would come into force with immediate effect, the spokesman added.

The election to the Gram Panchayats has been challenged in the Punjab and Haryana High Court after the government decided that the election of sarpanches would be indirect, that is the elected panches would elect the sarpanches. In the previous Panchayat polls, sarpanches along with the panches were elected directly by the voters.

The polls are deemed the first litmus test of popularity of the one-year-old SAD-BJP government in the State.

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