AN OVERVIEW OF PANCHAYAT ELECTIONS IN RAJASTHAN-2005 1. INTRODUCTION The State Election Commission (SEC), Rajasthan was constituted in July 1994 under Article 243 K of the Constitution of India. The SEC is a single member Commission headed by the State Election Commissioner. It has a Secretary who is also the Chief Electoral Officer for the State. The Commission discharges its constitutional duty by way of preparing electoral roles and holding elections for Panchayati Raj Institutions and Municipal bodies. Elections to Panchayati Raj Institutions (P.R.Is) are being held in Rajasthan since 1960. The first election was conducted in 1960 by the Panchayat Department. Thereafter, the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th elections in the years 1965, 1978,1981 and 1988 respectively were conducted by the Election Department. The 6th and 7th general elections to the PRIs were conducted by the SEC in 1995 and 2000. The 8th general elections have been conducted by the SEC in January and February 2005. 2. DELIMITATION AND RESERVATION OF SEATS The task of conducting elections commences only after delimitation of PRIs at different levels and with proper reservation of seats as provided by law. Although order of delimitation of Gram Panchayats based on 1991 census was issued by the government in 1992 but these Gram Panchayats came into existence only after the elections in January and February 1995. Delimitation of constituencies of Panchayat Samities and 1 Zila Parishads under the new provisions of the Constitution was done in September 1994. Reservation of seats in all the P.R.Is. was also done by the State Government in September 1994. Thereafter, between the 6th and 7th general elections, Zila Parishad Sawai Madhopur was divided into two Zila Parishads- namely Sawai Madhopur and Karauli. The present number of Gram Panchayats in the State is 9188. 3. CONSTITUENCIES Rajasthan has a three-tier system of Panchayati Raj with 32 Zila Parishads (District level), 237 Panchayat Samities(block level) and 9188 Panchayats (village level, comprising of a village or a group of villages). Each Zila Parishad has territorial constituencies. A Zila Parishad having population upto 4 lakhs has 17 constituencies and in case the population exceeds 4 lakhs, then for every one lakh or part thereof in excess of 4 lakhs, the number of constituencies is increased by two. The 32 Zila Parishads have 1008 constituencies at present. Similarly, Panchayat Samities also have territorial constituencies. A Panchayat Samiti having population up to one lakh consists of 15 constituencies and in case the population exceeds one lakh then for every 15000 or part thereof in excess of one lakh the number of constituencies are increased by two. The 237 Panchayat Samities are divided into 5257 constituencies at present. Each Panchayat has been divided into wards. The 9188 Panchayats have 105257 wards at present. 2 4. ELECTION MACHINERY CEO: Chief Electoral Officer, who is also Secretary of the State Election Commission, supervises the preparation of electoral rolls and conduct of election in the State under general superintendence, control and direction of SEC. DEO: For each district in the State, the Commission, in consultation with the State Government, has designated the District Collector as District Election officer (DEO). He coordinates and supervises the work of preparation of electoral rolls and conduct of election under general superintendence, direction and control of SEC and CEO. ERO: For preparation and revision of electoral rolls, Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) have been designated by the Commission in consultation with the State Government. Assistant Electoral Registration Officers have also been appointed by the Commission to assist the ERO. RO: For conduct of elections to Panchayati Raj Institutions at different levels, Returning Officers (ROs) are appointed. For election to Zila Parishad members and Panchayat Samiti members Assistant Returning Officers are also appointed to assist the RO. For elections of Pramukh, Up-Pramukh and Members of Zila Parishads, District Collectors have been appointed as Returning Officer in their respective districts by the Commission. To assist the R.O. more than one Assistant Returning Officer, like ADM, SDM, etc. are also appointed. 3 The Returning Officers for conduct of election to other Panchayati Raj Institutions viz. Members Panchayat Samiti, Pradhan, Up-pradhan and Panch/Sarpanch and the Assistant Returning Officers for election of Panchayat Samiti members are appointed by the concerned District Election Officers. PO: For elections to the office of Panchayat Samiti/Zila Parishad Member a five member polling party comprising of one Polling Officer and four Assistant Polling Officers was deputed for one polling booth. Similarly for Panch/Sarpanch election a 5 member polling party as above for a polling booth was deputed. The same polling party has been assigned the task to conduct poll for Zila Parishad/Panchayat Samiti members and Panchas/Sarpanchas. In addition one Returning Officer for a Panchayat to conduct the elections of Panch/Sarpanch/Up-Sarpanch was also appointed at the Panchayat headquarters. Polling Officers and Returning Officers for Panch/ Sarpanch elections were imparted two trainings. Other members of polling party were also imparted training. 5. ELECTORAL ROLLS Electoral rolls for Panchayat election have been prepared wards-wise. Qualifying date for the registration as elector in rolls was 1.1.2004. The following four types of electoral rolls have been prepared:- (i) Ward, (ii) Panchayat, (iii) Panchayat Samiti constituency and (iv) Zila Parishad constituency. 4 The electoral roll of all the wards in a Panchayat have been deemed as electoral roll of that Panchayat. Similarly, electoral rolls of all the wards/Panchayats comprised in a Panchayat Samiti/Zila Parishad constituency have been deemed as electoral roll for that constituency. The electoral roll for wards have been prepared by taking the relevant electoral roll of the State Assembly Constituency as a base, and also by making door to door survey by Enumerators and Supervisors. On the basis of door to door survey, manuscripts of electoral rolls were prepared by enumerators after making necessary additions, deletions and corrections in the State Assembly Constituency rolls. These were then read in Ward Sabha meetings specially organised for the purpose. Draft publications of all the four types of rolls were then made on 07.10.2004 with printed copies. Claims and objections were received up to, 26.10.2004 and rolls were finally published on 30.10.2004. The Commission has taken steps to ensure the correctness of electoral rolls and issued instructions to the District Election Officers to seek active co-operation of recognized political parties at the time of draft publication. A separate and complete set of finally published electoral rolls was also supplied to every recognized political party. The intention of supplying copies of rolls to the political parties was to invite suggestions for correcting and updating of the rolls. The Commission issued orders to supply forms for inclusion, deletion and correction of names in the electoral rolls free of cost to the public in order to ensure maximum involvement of the public. Although electoral rolls were prepared and finally published on 30.10.2004, however, the process of inclusion, deletion and correction of entries in the roll is a continuous 5 process. The SEC has also issued advertisements in news papers for creating awareness in the public so that concerned persons may apply to EROs for addition, deletion and correction in the rolls even after the final publication of rolls. Total electorate for elections of PRIs in the year 2005 are 281.81 lakhs out of which 147.29 lakh were male and 134.52 lakh were female. 6- POLLING STATIONS/BOOTHS Polling stations are normally set up at Panchayat headquarters. Each Panchayat has a polling station but in case of large number of voters, additional booths are set up. Ordinarily, a polling booth is set up for about 917 voters covering 4 or 5 wards of a Panchayat. A total of 30703 polling booths were set up during these elections. Normally polling stations were established in government buildings. 7. POLLING MATERIAL Ballot boxes available in the State with the Election Department were used. Forms, envelops, and stationary articles and books were printed/procured from the government presses and the Rajasthan State Cooperative Press. Indelible ink, symbol blocks and arrow cross seals were purchased from the firms approved by the Election Commission of India. Other necessary articles for the use of polling parties etc. were procured by the District Election Officers at their own level for which budget was allotted by the SEC. 50 types of statutory and non-statutory forms (approximately 100 lacs) and 40 types of envelopes (approximately 20 lakhs) and books for the 6 use of polling personnel, DEOs and Returning Offices were printed by the Rajasthan State Cooperative Press. 8. ELECTION PROGRAMME Notification for election of Zila Parishad members, Panchayat Samiti members and Panchas and Sarpanchas was issued by District Election Officers on 11.1.2005. As per the election programme, nominations for ZP/PS member were taken from 11.1.2005 to 13.1.2005. Scrutiny of nomination was done 14.1.2005 and the last date of the withdrawal of candidature was 15.1.2005. For the election of Panchas and Sarpanchas this was done on 30.1.2005 and 3.2.2005 i.e. in two spells in each district. Poll for PS members, ZP Members, Panchas and Sarpanchas took place in two spells in each district. In the first spell, poll for ZP member and PS member was held on 29.1.2005 and for Panchas and Sarpanchas the poll date was 31.1.2005. In the second spell, poll for ZP/PS members was held on 2.2.2005. and date of poll for Panchas and Sarpanchas was 4.2.2005.