Punjab announces major Relief to SC, BC Panches

Chandigarh, Nov 13 (UNI) The Punjab Government has directed that the pending elections to the posts of gram sarpanches on reserve seats for SCs/BCs should be held without any proposer and seconder where such candidates have no majority of panches as per the scheduled rules.

Mr Ranjit Singh Brahampura, Rural Development and Panchayats and Elections Minister Punjab said it was mandatory for any elected panch to have a proposer and a seconder from the quoram/majority of elected panches in order to contest the election of a village sarpanch.

But in more than 150 villages of the state, the elections for the reserved categories sarpanchs could not be held due to lack of quoram/majority as the only reserved panch elected to the gram panchayat could not get the support of a proposer and a seconder necessitated by the section 45 of one Punjab Panchayat Election Rules 1994.

The Minister added that in order to provide the proportionate reservations to the downtrodden in the panchayati raj institutions (PRIs) as promised by the SAD-BJP government, the department has issued a notification amending the rules in this regard so as to enable the SC/BC panches to contest the elections of reserved gram sarpanches without any proposer and seconder.

Mr Brahampura has also directed all the deputy commissioners of the state to hold the election meetings of reserved gram panchayats within two weeks so that the election process to such villages could be completed at the earliest.

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