Opposing a proposal to appoint administrators to gram panchayats whose term has come to end or is coming to an end, the Janata Dal (S) on Thursday petitioned the State Election Commission not to accept the government proposal.
Instead of appointing administrators, extend the terms of members by six months as per the provision of the Karnataka Panchayat Raj Act, 1993, a delegation led by JD(S) State president H.K. Kumaraswamy and former Minister H.D. Revanna urged the commission. The delegation asked the commission to send back the government proposal on administrators.
Incidentally, between May 15 and September 30, the terms of over 6,000 gram panchayats with over 95,000 members will come to an end. A memorandum from the JD(S) delegation said that the term of zilla panchayats and taluk panchayats also comes to an end in May 2021. “Though elections are to be conducted six months before the term ends, because of COVID-9 it may not be possible. But appointment of administrators is like providing a backdoor entry,” it said.
The memorandum also stated that it was against the aspirations of the Constitution to allow managing committees to replace elected members in gram panchayats. “Recently in Kerala, during the COVID-19 fight, gram panchayats were designated as units and given bigger responsibilities,” it said, adding that appointing administrators could spark tension locally and harm anti-COVID-19 activities.
