With nearly 9%, that is more than 8,000 candidates, being elected unopposed in the two-phase elections to gram panchayats (GPs) in the State, the Karnataka State Election Commission has asked Deputy Commissioners of all districts to verify the process through which candidates are elected unopposed.
Following reports of alleged auctioning of seats in GPs in different districts, the SEC has issued a circular to all Deputy Commissioners to look into the process of election of candidates, sources in the government said.
A total of 4,377 candidates were elected unopposed in GPs that went to polls in the first phase and 3,697 were elected unopposed in GPs that are going to polls on Sunday.
Countermanded
The GP elections to four constituencies at Byluru village of Sindigeri Gram Panchayat in Ballari district, where members were elected through “auction”, was countermanded in the first phase. This brought focus on other such unanimous elections.
Some districts recorded a high number of unanimous election of candidates. The highest of 437 GP candidates were elected unopposed in Belagavi, 364 in Mandya, 331 in Ballari, 250 in Vijayapura, 220 in Yadgir, 211 in Davangere, 203 in Raichur, 197 in Hassan, 158 in Chitradurga, and 156 candidates in Tumakuru, according to the SEC.
Following the instruction from SEC, some districts have begun the process of verification. The district administration of Yadgir has formed a fact-finding committee headed by the tahsildars of all seven taluks to conduct a detailed inquiry on the process of electing members unopposed. There had been complaints of candidates being asked to deposit a sum of money to develop the local temple in return for unopposed election.
In Belagavi, Deputy commissioner M.G. Hiremath said the process was being verified even though poll officials had found no foul play or irregularities in the unanimous election of candidates so far. “They don’t seem to be erroneous or in violation of any law. Anyway, we are verifying them following oral instructions from the Election Commission. We will send a report to the commission soon,” he said.
“In the backdrop of the Ballari incident, we were asked to verify the issue of unopposed elections. Accordingly, we conducted inquiries and found no such cases of poll malpractices in our district,” said Sanjay Shettennavar, Deputy Commissioner of Haveri.
