Grassroots democracy continues to elude UT

PUDUCHERRY: Grassroots democracy continues to be a far cry for the Union Territory, which joined the nation in celebrating the 63rd Republic Day on Thursday, as the six-month deadline set by the Madras High Court for conducting the civic polls is set to expire on February 22, 2012.The gram sabhas, which are an integral part of Republic Day celebrations, (along with Independence Day, Gandhi Jayanthi and May Day), were not conducted this year as municipal and panchayat councils are not in existence in the Union Territory ever since these were dissolved after the expiry of their terms on July 13, 2011.It is now almost certain that the civic elections will not be conducted within the stipulated time as the government has not been able to fulfil the basic requirement for conducting the polls -  appointment of the State Election Commissioner (SEC).In fact, the post of SEC is lying vacant for five years since February 18, 2007,  after the retirement of T Narayana.As per the Constitutional provisions and the Local Bodies Act, the election should have taken place before the expiry of the term of the municipal and panchayat councils. But the previous two governments headed by chief minister N Rangasamy himself and the subsequent regime headed by V Vaithilingam and the present government have failed to appoint the SEC. Despite giving an assurance in the High Court that the elections would be conducted within six months, the government has failed to appoint the State Election Commissioner  even after the passage of five months. A minimum of 45 days is required for appointment of the State Election Commissioner and another four months for various other arrangements such as preparation of electoral rolls, printing of stationery, forms, registers, procurement of  material required for use in ballot boxes and EVMs, the government stated in its affidavit.Before the elections are conducted, delimitation of wards has to be carried out as there is a disparity in the size of municipal wards ranging from 1,600 voters to 3,400 voters, said G A Jagannathan, former president of the Village Panchayat Presidents’ Association. Moreover, the government needs to give effect to enhancement of women’s reservation to 50 per cent from the existing 33 per cent, as in other states.Incidentally, the territorial administration has showed lethargy in conducting the local body elections in the past also. The local body elections in 2006 were conducted after 38 years on the direction of Madras High Court, in response to a PIL by an activist Ashok Kumar.“This is sheer reluctance by power-hungry rulers to share power with civic body representatives,” said V A Vasudevaraju, a former IAS officer and president of the Puducherry Panchayat Movement.  “It is shameful that the government has dissolved the municipal and panchayat councils,” Vasudevaraju said.