By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 5 Aug: A total of 42 objections have been received against the provisional list of reservations for the District Panchayat Presidents, and Block Pramukhs. The objections were received and heard yesterday and today, respectively, and a final list of reservations is likely to be issued tomorrow.
It may be reminded here that with the completion of the three-tier panchayat election process and vote counting in Uttarakhand, the focus has now shifted to the election of Zila Panchayat Presidents and Block Pramukhs. It may be recalled that the elections for Gram Panchayat Members, Gram Panchayat Pradhans, Kshetra Panchayat Members, and Zila Panchayat Members were held in two phases, namely 24 and 28 July. Following the counting of votes on 31 July, the Panchayati Raj Department has released the provisional reservation list for Zila Panchayat President posts, inviting objections from the public. The deadline for submission of objections was set at 6 p.m. yesterday, and a total of 42 objections were registered and received from various districts.
The provisional reservation list, released for Zila Panchayat President posts in twelve districts (excluding Haridwar) on 1 August, has attracted objections from nine districts, while Nainital, Bageshwar, and Almora reported no objections at all. Dehradun recorded the highest number of objections with 15, followed by Pauri with nine objections, while smaller numbers were reported from Udham Singh Nagar, Champawat, Tehri Garhwal, Uttarkashi, Pithoragarh, Chamoli, and Rudraprayag.
To address these objections, the government has constituted a committee which today engaged in scrutinising and disposing of all submissions. According to the schedule issued by the Panchayati Raj Department, all objections are to be scrutinised and disposed of today, and the final reservation list for Zila Panchayat President posts is set to be issued tomorrow.
It may be recalled that as per the provisional reservation list issued earlier, the posts of Zila Panchayat President have been reserved for General Female candidates in Dehradun, Pauri Garhwal, Almora, Rudraprayag, and Tehri Garhwal, while the Bageshwar seat has been earmarked for a Scheduled Caste Female. The post in Pithoragarh has been reserved for Scheduled Caste, and Udham Singh Nagar for OBC. The president posts in Uttarkashi, Nainital, Chamoli, and Champawat have been kept unreserved, ensuring wider representation. The process of finalising the reservations is underway, with all eyes now on the release of the definitive list tomorrow.
Interestingly, before the Dehradun seat was reserved for female candidates only, Pritam Singh’s son Abhishek Singh was very hopeful of winning the seat of District Panchayat President in Dehradun, a post that had been held by Madhu Chauhan of BJP, who is wife of Vikasnagar MLA and senior BJP leader Munna Singh Chauhan, an arch-rival of Pritam Singh. This time, Congress has performed better than last time in panchayat elections in Dehradun and Singh was expected to give a good fight to Madhu Chauhan. However, now it will become clear tomorrow, whether this seat remains unchanged and reserved for women or is made general, which can allow Abhishek Singh to contest the post of District Panchayat President.
