Cabinet nod for direct election of sarpanches

Mumbai: In the wake of the recently held direct elections to the post of civic council chairman, which paid off for the BJP in the state, the state government has decided to implement the same model at the village level too.

In a state cabinet meeting on Monday, it was decided that villagers would get a chance to elect their sarpanch directly. Earlier, a body elected by villagers would to pick the sarpanch. Political experts believe that this is an attempt on the part of the BJP to nurture a presidential kind of political culture on the ground.

Maharashtra has 28,332 gram panchayats out of which almost 10,000 villages will go to polls between August and November 2017. The Cabinet decision will be implemented from these elections.

The state cabinet has also put educational qualification as a criterion for a sarpanch. A person born after January 1 1995 who is contesting the post must pass Class 7. Also, the state has increased the sarpanch’s powers. Now, the sarpanch will have the power to make the village’s budget and chair all village development bodies while gram sevaks will be members of the bodies.

“This will prevent the malpractices of horse trading in the elections. Also it will make sarpanch more powerful as well as more connected to the villagers,” said Pankaja Munde.