PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/Dehradun
The by-election to fill vacant seats in the three tier Panchayati Raj bodies in 12 districts of the State will be held on November 20.
The secretary of State Election Commission, RK Goyal said that the SEC will release the notification for the election on November 11. He said that the nomination papers for the vacant posts of Gram Panchayat members, Gram Panchayat Pradhans and members of block Panchayats will be given at the respective office of the block Panchayat while that of member of district Panchayats at district headquarters from November 11 to 13. The nomination forms will be submitted on November 13 and 14 while the voting will be held between 8 AM to 5 PM on November 20.
A large numbers of posts, particularly that of Gram Panchayat members remained after the Panchayat elections were held in July this year. The data of the State Election Commission shows that 33,468 posts of the member village Panchayat -which happens to be the basic unit of the three-tier Panchayati Raj system- are still vacant. Due to these vacant posts, a total of the 4,772 duly elected Pradhans of Gram Panchayats are sitting idle as they have not taken oath of office and secrecy. As per the law, these Pradhans will be able to take oath only when the vacant posts of the members of Gram Panchayats are filled. Apart from 33,468 vacant posts of district Panchayat members, the by-elections will also be held to fill 20 vacant posts of Gram Panchayat Pradhans and two posts of members of block Panchayats.
The voting for three-tier Panchayat bodies in the 12 districts of the State was held in two phases on July 24 and 28. The elections were held to elect 55,587 Gram Panchayat members, 7,499 Gram Pradhans, 2,974 members of block Panchayat and 358 members of the district Panchayat.
