Allegations have emerged that a panchayat in Pennagaram has auctioned off the post of panchayat president for ₹ 25.04 lakhs here.
In a late night gathering of the panchayat on Monday night, Pannaikulam panchayat’s village president’s post was auctioned off, along with the post of the vice president and ward councillor, between three villages of the panchayat, it is alleged.
When contacted by The Hindu , Krishnan, the Block Development officer of Pennagaram, said, “Yes, it came to my knowledge. I inquired, but nobody has come forward to complain.”
Speaking to The Hindu on condition of anonymity, a source from the village said this has been the norm for the local body elections. “On Monday night, the panchayat was convened and the post of panchayat president, vice president, and councillor was decided between three villages. Even the VAO and the ‘menial’ (village assistant) were present briefly at the meeting, watching the proceedings from a distance. The husband of the panchayat secretary was also present,” the source claimed.
This is not the first time the position has been sold, said the source. “In 2011, the post was sold for ₹ 20 lakhs. In 2016, it was sold for ₹ 35 lakhs but after the election was called off, the money was returned. Now, it has been sold for ₹ 25.04 lakhs. The post of ward members is going at ₹ 50,000 now.”
The Hindu was unable to reach the VAO for his comment on the allegation.
Pannaikulam panchayat has 6 villages of Panaikulam, Vathimaradahalli, Thirumalvadi, Kookuttamarudahalli, Manalpallam, and Siddhanahalli. Between them, the villages share a voter base of 2,500 votes. Like most of Pennagaram, Vanniyars form the dominant caste in Pannaikulam and decide the votes. Thirumalvadi and Vathimaradahalli are the deciding villages because of the higher voting population, according to the source.
“It is not that the votes are sold for cash. Democratic exercise is given up so that the auctioned money goes to the village corpus that is later used to fund a new temple or temple festivals. Real work for the villages including social schemes and poverty alleviation programmes will not get impelemented,” the source alleged.
Also, Dalit population of the panchayat has no say in this. “One is Caste dominance, and the other is Social control (Ooru Samudhaya Kattupaadu) and against these two, no one can raise voice,” said the source.
Earlier, it was alleged that the panchayat president’s post was purchased by one Immanuel, who owned a petrol bunk.
BDO Krishnan stated that in fact two people have bought the applications for the nominations, and neither of them was the man named Immanuel purported to have purchased the post. However, the application process has only just begun. If these nominations are withdrawn in the end leaving only one candidate at the end, Mr.Krishnan said, there was no choice but to declare the person elected. Asked if the officials will intervene, he said, it can only happen if there is a complaint.
Collector S.Malarvizhi said she would inquire into the allegations.
