The Tamil Nadu government has decided to have elections to the rural local bodies in 28 districts only after completing delimitation and re-organisation of the local bodies, according to highly placed sources.
The term of 314 panchayat unions and 9,624 village panchayats, besides that of 28 district panchayats, is due to expire on January 5.
The previous elections to these local bodies were held in two phases in December 2019, covering about 92,310 posts that included 76,746 members of village panchayat wards and 9,624 village panchayat presidents. Since 2016, one half of the seats and offices of the local bodies have been reserved for women.
Delimitation is being carried out in the light of the government’s announcement early this year on the upgrade of four municipalities — Pudukkottai, Namakkal, Tiruvannamalai, and Karaikudi — as municipal corporations. Consequently, village and town panchayats have to be merged with the proposed corporations. As a result, 11 village panchayats would come under Pudukkottai; 18 village panchayats under Tiruvannamalai; 12 village panchayats under Namakkal; and two town panchayats and five village panchayats under Karaikudi. As for re-organisation, some rural local bodies may undergo changes internally, apart from merger with bigger urban local bodies.
Besides, there are certain village panchayats in the vicinity of the Chennai and Avadi Municipal Corporations of which infrastructure development requires greater attention. A case in point is the Vanagaram peri-urban panchayat, which comes under the Villivakkam block of Tiruvallur district. Its profile has changed a lot following developments like the establishment of a corporate hospital.
Originally a village panchayat, Vanagaram was made one of 690 peri-urban panchayats in August 2023 on the basis of proximity (located within 5 km of urban local bodies). Factors such as population growth, density changes, and the impact of the nearby urban local bodies were taken into account while Vanagaram and other village panchayats were made peri-urban panchayats. The government feels that if the elections are held without delimitation, the exercise cannot be done for the next five years.
Notwithstanding the government’s explanation, organisations working to strengthen the grassroots democratic system — such as Thannatchi, Arappor Iyakkam, Voice of People, Institute of Grassroots Governance, and Thozhan — have been demanding that the elections be held immediately.
Supreme Court verdict
In support of their position, they cite the Supreme Court’s 2022 verdict in Suresh Mahajan vs State of Madhya Pradesh.
In it, the court made clear that “the former [the process of delimitation] and/or triple test need not detain the issue of election programme by the State Election Commission in respect of local bodies as and when it becomes due, much less overdue, including where the same is likely to become due in the near future”. The triple test pertains to the establishment of a dedicated body to conduct a contemporaneous rigorous empirical inquiry into the nature and implications of backwardness, especially with respect to local bodies; quotas for political representation based on the body’s recommendations; and allowing up to 50% quota for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes. The court also ruled as inviolable the constitutional mandate of installing freshly elected bodies before the expiry of the five-year terms of the outgoing bodies and allowing no more than six months for administrators in the event of dissolution.
Published – December 24, 2024 08:30 am IST
