Maha legislature passes bill on indirect poll of sarpanchs

Reversing a key decision of the previous BJP government, the Maharashtra legislature on Tuesday passed a bill allowing election of Sarpanch (village head) from members of local bodies instead of a popular mandate amid ruckus by BJP members over issues of farmers.

The rule for direct election of the sarpanch (village head) was brought in by the previous BJP-led Devendra Fadnavis dispensation.

In the Lower House, the Maharashtra Village Panchayat (Amendment) Bill 2020 was tabled by Rural Development Minister Hasan Mushrif.

Mushrif said the provisions of the current legislation were modified to ensure smooth functioning of panchayats.

The bill was passed amid ruckus by MLAs of the BJP who raised demands like a blanket farm loan waiver and flagged "rising" crimes against women in the state.

The MLAs said the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress dispensation has "failed" to fulfil various assurances made to farmers like freeing the 7/12 Land Extracts of all encumbrances.

The Fadnavis cabinet had, on July 3, 2017, decided to amend the respective clauses of Maharashtra Gram Panchayat Act of 1958 to facilitate election of sarpanchs (gram panchayat heads) directly from among the people of the village.

In the Legislative Council also the bill was passed amid din by BJP members over farmers' issues.

During proceedings, BJP members insisted on holding a special discussion on farmers' issues and also tried to move an adjournment motion, which was rejected by the council Chairman Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar.

Nimbalkar then called for tabling of the bill and read out the recommended amendments.

Speaking to PTI outside the council, Mushrif said, "The bill will enable the elected representatives to govern the (local) body for which they have been elected. We expect the Maharashtra governor to sign the bill soon so that the Act will come into effect".

He said after the bill becomes Act, Sarpanchs will be elected indirectly.

When asked about several villages which do not have Sarpanchs because of resignation by the incumbents, the minister said, "In such villages, the elected body will select its new head and the person will become sarpanch or village head. We have made such provision in the amended bill".

As per the State Election Commission (SEC), polls for posts of the sarpanch and members in 1,570 gram panchayats in 19 districts will be held on March 29.

Counting of votes will take place on March 30, the SEC said.

Mushrif said, "We will inform the SEC that election for the post of sarpanch should be through indirect method. This means elected members will choose a sarpanch from among themselves".