Ahmedabad, May 28 (PTI) As many as 8,326 gram (village) panchayats across Gujarat would go to polls on June 22, with 27 per cent OBC reservation, to elect sarpanches as well as panchayat members, the State Election Commission (SEC) announced on Wednesday.
Notably, the elections to the lowest level of local government administration, usually fought on non-party basis, are being held after a delay of nearly two years, mainly due to the issues surrounding OBC (Other Backward Classes) reservation.
With the announcement of election schedule, which fixed June 25 as the counting date, the model code of conduct has come into force in Gujarat.
Gram panchayat elections on such a big scale are being held in Gujarat for the first time after the state government in 2023 announced to give a 27 per cent reservation to OBCs in local bodies like panchayats, municipalities and civic corporations on the basis of Zaveri Commission's report.
Of these 8,326 gram panchayats, 4,688 are going for general or mid-term elections, while bypolls would be held in 3,638 village councils, the SEC said in a release in Gandhinagar.
Candidates in panchayat elections stand individually and not on party tickets though they may be affiliated to political outfits otherwise.
While polling will be held between 7 am and 6 pm on June 22, counting of votes will be undertaken on June 25. The last date to file nominations is June 9, while the same for withdrawal of candidature is June 11, said the release.
The elections will be conducted using ballot papers and voters will be given the option of NOTA (None Of The Above), it said.
Both ruling BJP and opposition Congress welcomed the announcement of gram panchayat polls.
"The Congress welcomes the SEC's announcement about polls to gram panchayats. Elections had been stalled for nearly two years. The Congress has been demanding elections since long because ruling BJP had snatched away people's power by appointing administrators on these panchayats after their tenure ended," said state unit spokesperson Manish Doshi.
Gujarat BJP spokesperson Yagnesh Dave refuted the Congress charge that the ruling party was behind the delay in holding rural body polls.
The polls got delayed because the SEC was supposed to complete an important task of enumerating OBC population in each ward for the purpose of implementing the 27 reservation approved by the state government, he argued.
"That task of estimating the OBC population was important to ensure that injustice is not done to the backward classes. The Congress is just spreading misinformation among the masses. If polls were announced earlier, it would have alleged the BJP conducted polls in a haste to deprive OBCs of their rights. We are confident candidates associated with the BJP will sweep the polls," said Dave.
In August 2023, the BJP government had announced a 27 per cent reservation for OBCs in local bodies like panchayats, municipalities and civic corporations on the basis of a Justice Jhaveri Commission report.
Earlier, OBC reservation in local bodies was 10 per cent in Gujarat. The existing quota for Scheduled Castes (14 per cent) and Scheduled Tribes (7 per cent) in local bodies remained unchanged and there has been no breach of the 50 per cent reservation ceiling.
The government had set up a commission, headed by Gujarat High Court Judge KS Jhaveri (retired), in July 2022 to collect and analyse data about the nature and implications of backwardness in local bodies, an exercise necessary for fixing the OBC quota in elections for institutions of local self-governance.
The commission was formed after the Supreme Court mandated that reservation for OBCs should be on the basis of their population.
The Supreme Court had earlier directed that seats to be reserved for OBC candidates in each local body will be decided as per recommendations of a commission following a detailed study.