Karnataka: casts a shadow over GP elections in Mangaluru

The lockdown has cast a shadow on the elections planned for the gram panchayats (GPs) whose term will end in a few months.

The elections to GPs in Karnataka were held in May and June 2015. Thus, the term of the GPs ends in June and July 2020. The Election Commission of India had planned to conduct elections in May and had written to deputy commissioners to make arrangements for GP elections a few months ago.

Dakshina Kannada had 220 GPs and Karnataka had 5,844 GPs way back in 2015. Now, the GPs in Karnataka have increased to 6,000. There has been a request to delay the elections.

There are 230 GPs in Dakshina Kannada. All the authorities in the GPs including the president, vice president, PDO, Asha workers, Anganwadi workers are engaged in the battle against Covid-19.

Mangaluru Taluk Panchayat president Mohammed Monu has appealed to the chief minister to delay the elections by six months.

“The GP task force is engaged in visiting villages to create awareness among people. There are instances of GP elections being postponed up to six months in 1995," said Monu.

“As per the Karnataka Gram Swaraj and Panchayat Raj Act 1993, the election should be held before the term of the elected body ends. Going by the Act, the election should be announced in May. But it is better to delay the election until Covid-19 is completely eradicated from the country,” said a gram panchayat member.