GANGTOK, August 12: The State Bharatiya Janata Party has today criticised the government over the announcement of distributing nomination forms for the Panchayat and the Municipality elections from August 16.
A press release issued by the party states that the BJP has failed to understand the rationale of the SDF party of announcing the nomination forms when nobody knows which ward will be reserved for Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes, Backward Classes, General or the women.
Stating that panchayat and the municipality elections cannot be held unless most of the wards are re-delimitated, the party has said that if reservation pattern is known only to SDF Party, it will be undemocratic and placing the opposition parties in disadvantage whereby the concept of free and fair election will be out of question.
The party in the release has also queried as to how there can be a panchayat wards having 2 voters and municipality / nagar panchayat wards with as low as 5 voters. “2 voters mean a family only and 5 voters mean 2 families. Even for filing nomination 2 Persons are required one to file the nomination and another as proper. With eight political parties, a minimum of 16 persons are required just to file the nomination only. In such a situation who will be the voters is a big question. On the other hand some of the Panchayat has as many as 1166 voters and some Municipality ward has as many as 8087 voter which is probably larger than an Assembly Constituency,” the release contends.
The release further contends that everyone has equal right and opportunity in democracy and that every panchayat and municipality has to be provided with some basic infrastructure and facilities. “If so what will be the infrastructure and facilities for a panchayat ward of 2 and 1166 or a nagar panchayat / municipality ward of 5 and 8087 is not known,” the party asks.
Contending that elections cannot be held unless re-delimitation is done, the party has demanded that re-delimitation has to be done with the voters number as the basis as is being followed everywhere with exception to remote, inaccessible area, geographical consideration etc.
“It looks like the government seems to have already asked for re-delimitation,” the release says. “If the delimitation and reservation of seats as done by the Delimitation Commission for the State Assembly Constituencies is followed, the variation between wards can be only +/-10% voters or population. For re-delimitation of whole of Panchayat and Municipality wards only, it will take a minimum of 2 to 3 months though voter list and the reservation for Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes, and Backward classes can be worked out simultaneously if the data entry is codified However, the rotational reservation will take some time as this has to be done considering the earlier reserved wards for the women in the Panchayat and Zilla Panchayat wards.” After the re-delimitation and preparation of the voter lists of each ward, the release states will have to be published and time given for filing objections and suggestions. After the objections and suggestions are received, then only the final voter list is prepared, which will only entail a minimum of a month.
“The government does not seems to have yet considered the demand of bifurcation of Scheduled Tribes into Bhutia-Lepcha and Limboo-Tamang made by political parties in the same line as the Backward Classes is understood to be bifurcated into Most Backward Classes and Other Backward Classes.” The release further states.
Stressing that BJP would support everything that is as per the constitution of India and for the betterment of the people of Sikkim at large, the release states that the party will oppose anything that is not proper including the party’s investigation towards the Speaker of the Sikkim Legislative Assembly’s role in chairing a party meeting to decide the car rally of August 13. “The Speaker of the State Assembly once elected to the post is supposed to be above party lines,” the release adds
A press release issued by the party states that the BJP has failed to understand the rationale of the SDF party of announcing the nomination forms when nobody knows which ward will be reserved for Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes, Backward Classes, General or the women.
Stating that panchayat and the municipality elections cannot be held unless most of the wards are re-delimitated, the party has said that if reservation pattern is known only to SDF Party, it will be undemocratic and placing the opposition parties in disadvantage whereby the concept of free and fair election will be out of question.
The party in the release has also queried as to how there can be a panchayat wards having 2 voters and municipality / nagar panchayat wards with as low as 5 voters. “2 voters mean a family only and 5 voters mean 2 families. Even for filing nomination 2 Persons are required one to file the nomination and another as proper. With eight political parties, a minimum of 16 persons are required just to file the nomination only. In such a situation who will be the voters is a big question. On the other hand some of the Panchayat has as many as 1166 voters and some Municipality ward has as many as 8087 voter which is probably larger than an Assembly Constituency,” the release contends.
The release further contends that everyone has equal right and opportunity in democracy and that every panchayat and municipality has to be provided with some basic infrastructure and facilities. “If so what will be the infrastructure and facilities for a panchayat ward of 2 and 1166 or a nagar panchayat / municipality ward of 5 and 8087 is not known,” the party asks.
Contending that elections cannot be held unless re-delimitation is done, the party has demanded that re-delimitation has to be done with the voters number as the basis as is being followed everywhere with exception to remote, inaccessible area, geographical consideration etc.
“It looks like the government seems to have already asked for re-delimitation,” the release says. “If the delimitation and reservation of seats as done by the Delimitation Commission for the State Assembly Constituencies is followed, the variation between wards can be only +/-10% voters or population. For re-delimitation of whole of Panchayat and Municipality wards only, it will take a minimum of 2 to 3 months though voter list and the reservation for Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes, and Backward classes can be worked out simultaneously if the data entry is codified However, the rotational reservation will take some time as this has to be done considering the earlier reserved wards for the women in the Panchayat and Zilla Panchayat wards.” After the re-delimitation and preparation of the voter lists of each ward, the release states will have to be published and time given for filing objections and suggestions. After the objections and suggestions are received, then only the final voter list is prepared, which will only entail a minimum of a month.
“The government does not seems to have yet considered the demand of bifurcation of Scheduled Tribes into Bhutia-Lepcha and Limboo-Tamang made by political parties in the same line as the Backward Classes is understood to be bifurcated into Most Backward Classes and Other Backward Classes.” The release further states.
Stressing that BJP would support everything that is as per the constitution of India and for the betterment of the people of Sikkim at large, the release states that the party will oppose anything that is not proper including the party’s investigation towards the Speaker of the Sikkim Legislative Assembly’s role in chairing a party meeting to decide the car rally of August 13. “The Speaker of the State Assembly once elected to the post is supposed to be above party lines,” the release adds
(sikkimexpress)
