Absence of elected body hits functioning of gram panchayats

The governance in gram panchayats (GPs) across the state has been affected severely after the five-year tenure of the elected members ended in February.

The outgoing members of these local governing bodies say that the administrators appointed by the deputy commissioners to manage day-to-day GP affairs are inaccessible to the people. Consequently, villagers face various problems accessing basic amenities including drinking water supply during summer.

The government has appointed various taluk-level officials as administrators for over 5,900 GPs until the next elections - which are expected by year-end. The elections are delayed due to the delimitation and reservation processes. Every official has been entrusted with the affairs of 3-4 GPs, in addition to their administrative overload due to staff shortage. Therefore, the villagers say that many people are unaware of these administrators’ names and contact numbers.

Kadashettihalli Satish, president of the Karnataka State Gram Panchayat Members’ Federation and an outgoing member of Kadaba GP in Gubbi taluk of Tumakuru district, argued that administrators must perform the all duties of an elected body in the GP alongside their routine ones. He pointed out that the government appointed administrators under Section 8 of the Karnataka Panchayat Raj Act despite a provision to form an alternative committee to oversee development works by re-nominating outgoing GP members until the next polls.

“The Maharashtra government appointed outgoing GP sarpanchs (presidents) as administrators whose terms expired between December 2025 and early 2026. However, the Karnataka government has appointed officials including tahsildars and BEOs as administrators who hesitate to sign small bills without reviewing the progress of works on the ground. It is difficult for them to handle the full responsibility of an elected GP body when government departments are reeling under manpower shortages, with 2.7 lakh posts falling vacant,” he explained.

Lack of funds

The former members contended that GPs lack funds as the centre has not allotted the 15th Finance Commission grants. This is due to the Rural Development and Panchayat Department’s failure to allocate earlier funds according to guidelines.

“The governance in gram panchayats has totally collapsed due to a lack of funds and the administrators’ failure to visit villages. Bills totalling to crores of rupees are pending in GPs under various schemes including the MGNREGA. Therefore, the government should have constituted a committee by re-nominating outgoing GP members until the election is completed. Alternatively, elections should be conducted for all GPs except those where there are objections about delimitation and reservation,” said Shreedhar Patil, the outgoing president of Kumsi Gram Panchayat in Kalaburagi taluk.

Kalaburagi South Block Education Officer Vijay Kumar Jamkhandi claimed that he finds it little difficult to perform his duty as he is appointed as administrator for four gram panchayats in Kalaburagi district.

“I have to monitor development works in about 15 villages alongside the administrative work of the education department. The burden will increase once school admissions start, as I will have to handle many tasks, including distributing textbooks and uniforms, in addition to the GP administrator’s duty,” he said.

Meanwhile, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge maintained that appointing officials as administrators is a temporary arrangement. 

“The idea to appoint officials as GP administrators is not a new one and it has happened on previous occasions. We have not received any complaints about more work burden from them. We have already written to deputy commissioners and ZP CEOs to start election procedures. We can form committees by re-nominating outgoing GP members to look after administration only in case of inadvertent delay in elections”, Priyank Kharge said.