From information available, the BJP that is dominant partner in the ruling alliance in the state, could not win a single post of chairperson and managed to secure only three seats of deputy chairperson in the elections, results of which were declared on October 16, the same day of voting.

Nagpur district is the home turf of the BJP’s current chief of Maharashtra unit Chandrashekhar Bawankule, State Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union minister Nitin Gadkari. Nagpur also houses the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological fountainhead of the BJP that is currently in power in the state and at the Centre.

The Congress won nine out of 13 posts of chairperson and eight out of 13 posts of deputy chairperson in the district. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) secured three posts of chairperson, while the Shiv Sena managed to win one such post, the district officials said.

The Congress won the chairperson’s post in Saoner, Kalmeshwar, Parseoni, Mouda, Kamptee, Umred, Bhivapur, Kuhi, and Nagpur Rural. The NCP won the post in Katol, Narkhed and Hingna, and the Shiv Sena won the Ramtek chairperson’s post, they said.

The Ramtek seat was bagged the faction led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde named ‘Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena’, sources said.As per official information, the BJP could not win even a single post of chairperson and managed to secure only three seats of deputy chairperson in the elections.

Talking to PTI, former minister and Congress rural unit chief Rajendra Mulak said, “The Panchayat Samiti results have demoralised the BJP cadre, as the party faced a defeat on the home ground of the RSS and senior leaders Nitin Gadkari, Devendra Fadnavis and Chandrashekar Bawankule.” “Winning and losing keeps happening, but the way they have lost shows that the BJP cadre has no grip in the district,” the Congress leader said.

The Congress party, which also holds the sway in Zilla Parishad (ZP), dominated the results of the elections of Chairpersons and Deputy Chairpersons of Panchayat Samitis (PS) declared on October 15. The party won nine out of 13 posts of PS chiefs, and eight out of 13 posts of deputies. Congress had a clean sweep, winning both the seats of Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson in seven PS. Its ally Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) had a clean sweep in two PS, and won the seat of Chairperson at one more place. Balasahebanchi Sena (led by Eknath Shinde) won the seat of PS Chairperson in Ramtek. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) could not win a single seat of PS Chairperson, but it managed to win three seats of Deputy Chairperson. The PS where Congress won both the posts are as follows: Saoner — Aruna Shinde (Chairperson) and Rahul Tiwari (Deputy Chairperson); Kalmeshwar — Prabhakar Bhosle and Shravan Bhingare; Parseoni — Mangala Nimbone and Karuna Bhovate; Kamptee — Disha Chankapure and Dilip Vanjari; Umred — Geetanjali Nagbhidkar and Suresh Lende; Bhiwapur — Madhuri Deshmukh and Rahul Meshram; Nagpur (Rural) — Rupali Manohar and Avinash Pardhi.

Besides, its candidates Vandana Motghare won the post of PS Chairperson in Kuhi, and Swapnil Shravankar in Mouda. NCP secured both the posts of Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson in Narkhed PS with its candidates Mahendra Gajbe and Mayatai Modhoriya winning the elections. In Hingna PS, NCP candidates Sushama Kawale and Umeshsingh Rajput bagged the posts respectively. In Hingna, NCP leader Rameshchandra Bang has kept his influence intact. In Katol PS, NCP’s Ajay alias Sanjay Dangore won the post of Chairperson while Congress’ Nishikant Nagmote won that of Deputy Chairperson.

Overall, the ruling Congress-NCP combine won 12 posts of PS chief, and 10 posts of Deputy Chairperson. In Ramtek PS, Sanjay Neware of Balasahebanchi Sena (Shinde group) won the post of Chairperson and BJP’s Narendra Bandhate won that of Deputy Chairperson. Both polled five votes each. Whereas, their rivals Congress-Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP) candidates Ravindra Kumre and Asmita Biranwar polled four votes each. Congress’ PS member Pinky Rahate remained absent. Had she been present, Congress-GGP candidates would have polled five votes each and the winner would have been decided through draw of lots. BJP won three posts of Deputy Chairpersons namely Narendra Bandhate (Ramtek PS), Khemraj Chafle (Mouda PS), and Istari Talekar (Kuhi). After the declaration of election results, Congress celebrated at the official bungalow of ZP President. Sunil Kedar, former minister; Rajendra Mulak, District President (Rural) of Congress; Rashmi Barve, ZP

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Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) will be used in elections to urban bodies and ballot papers in voting for three-tier panchayats, said Madhya Pradesh Election Commissioner Basant Pratap Singh as per a Times of India report.

During a review of election preparations with collectors via video communication, Singh argued that EVMs would delay panchayat elections by over three months due to insufficient machines. Instead, he pushed for urban body elections to be done in two phases while panchayat elections be done via ballot paper in three phases. Addressing Director General of Police Sudhir Saxena and ACS (Home) Rajesh Rajoura, he called for proper security arrangements for peaceful elections, mentioning the “fragile and vulnerable booths” should be dealt with care.

As per commission rules, there should be consistent tracking of corporators’ accounts for election expenses. Polling stations and returning officers should be verified and reviewing data should be sent to the SEC immediately.

Earlier this year, there was much attention focused on EVMs during the Assembly elections particularly in Uttar Pradesh. On the eve of counting of votes, there was a major shuffle in the state’s Electoral Officers line-up. The Election Commission announced that the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) would be deputed as special officer in Meerut, and the Bihar CEO would be the counting in-charge in Varanasi. Further, there were overnight removals of nodal officers for controversies surrounding EVMs in Varanasi. A returning officer in Sonbhadra and an additional election officer in Bareilly were also removed.

All of this was done a day after the Samajwadi Party (SP) alleged major protocol violations in transporting EVMs. SP President Akhilesh Yadav even accused the Uttar Pradesh government of ‘stealing’ EVMs. Party members qualified this by sharing social media videos around March 8 evening showing a truck reportedly loaded with EVMs being moved from Varanasi.

However, at the time, District Magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma dismissed these as fake news and attempts of “some political parties” to “spread rumours”. He claimed that the EVMs in question were used for ‘hands-on training’ of counting officers on the eve of counting day.

Related:

Crisis of Democracy: Lessons from UP elections
UP: Multiple FIRs lodged against SP workers
EVM security: Whose responsibility is it anyway?
“Self-confession of 200 EVMS replaced,” ECI registers a case

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Members of the Vantangiya tribe, the forest dwellers who live in Gorakhpur and adjoining districts, will for the first time since Independence participate in the panchayat elections on April 15. The tribes folk will exercise their right to vote and elect their own village head in the first-phase voting for Uttar Pradesh panchayat polls. The Gorakhpur Vantangiya villages will vote in the first phase when over 3,500 of tribal voters will choose their own gram pradhan, according to a report in the New Indian Express.

Gorakhpur district has five Vantangiya villages, the adjoining Maharajganj has 18 and Gonda and Balrampur have five each. These areas became revenue villages in 2017. The report quotes social activist Manoj Singh who says these elections will result in the “real empowerment,” of the tribes.

The villagers had voted for the first time in the 2019 general election, but it is the panchayat polls that will have a direct impact as they will choose a leader who is one of them, and who hopefully will be able to relate to their daily concerns and help solve  problems.

According to a 2019 feature in Down to Earth magazine, Vantangiyas have been settled in pockets of eastern Uttar Pradesh for a century, but didn’t have voting rights till the 1990s. They are said to be the one who turned barren lands into forests, however, as is the case elsewhere with other forest dwellers, they too did not have a right over forest produce and continued to lead impoverished lives. According to the report there are about 60,000 Vantangiyas living in Gorakhpur and Maharajgunj districts.

Who are the Vantangiyas and what is their story?

SanbrangIndia’s detailed news feature on the tribe had shown how their history can in fact be traced to when the British were expanding rail lines zeroed in onto the forest of Deori, Nainital, Pilibhit, Lakhimpur Kheeri, Bahraich, Balrampur Maharajganj, Gorakhpur and more in Uttar Pradesh. After passing the Awadh Forest Rules, the British cunningly captured the forests of Bahraich in 1861, and in 1885, they brought in the forest department to control the forest produce. For this, four ranges of Motipur, Chakia, Charda and Bhinga were at breakneck speed in the whole country. To lay a kilometre of a rail line, 60 Sakhu trees had to be sacrificed for their strength. The wood was used to lay sleepers below the railway line and the demand for the wood increased. The Forest officers in the newly minted forest department chopped down many Sakhu forests in the region. The feature on the origins and history of the Vantangiyas may be read here.

Related:

Allahabad HC has not ordered evictions of Surma villagers of Dudhwa Forest
Equity to be maintained between industrialisation and ecosystem: Orissa HC
The rich history of Vantangiya’s are threatened when villages like Mahbubnagar 

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It is alleged that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has virtually won 34% (more than 16,000) seats, uncontested as members of other parties were unable to file their nominations due to alleged interference and coercion by TMC members. 

Brief Background of the Case
As per claims by the CPI (M), many of its candidates were prevented from filing nominations and hence had to send their nominations through emails. The CPI (M) had approached the Calcutta High Court against the SEC for rejecting the nominations that it had received through emails to the EC as well as the Returning Officer. The main contention was that the Information Technology Act, 2000 read with Section 90 permits the SEC to accept nominations through email and that there is a mechanism in the website of State Election Commission to accept nominations through email. On May 8, the Calcutta High Court had directed the SEC to accept nominations of those candidates who had submitted their candidature electronically as per a plea by the CPM. Both the CPM and BJP had filed caveat before the Apex Court seeking to be heard before an order was passed.

What the Supreme Court said
The Bench comprised of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice A.M. Khanwilkar

In its directions, the court said,

1. There shall be a stay on the impugned judgment and order date May 8, 2018 passed by the Division Bench of the High Court.
2. The West Bengal State EC shall see to it that the election is held in “absolute fairness” , keeping in view the “concept of purity of an election in a democracy”
3. That the Election process shall be completed in all aspects and the results of the election can be notified as per law.
4. The petitioners shall not notify the results in respect of the constituencies where there has been no contest without the leave of the court.

It said that the Panchayat elections should proceed as scheduled on May 14, 2018. Senior Counsel Rakesh Dwiwedi appearing on behalf of the State Election Commission, had opposed the order passed by the High Court. He drew the attention of the Bench to the order passed by Justices A.Mukherjee and B.Somadder.

“The State Election Commission has been constituted under section 3 of the West Bengal State Election Commission Act, 1994 with Constitutional sanction. It therefore does not strictly come within the ambit ofsection 6(1)(a) of the Act of 2000 to be a body or agency owned or controlled by the appropriate Government. Similarly, the State Government is not called upon to make rules in terms of section 90of the Act of 2000 in respect of filing of nomination forms through email. It is for the State Election Commission – being a Constitutional body/authority – to provide for the same, as filing of nomination through e-mail invariably prevents large scale violence centering around the Panchayat elections and above all, bloodshed and loss of precious human life. Further, it eliminates hurling of accusations and counter-accusations and encourages peaceful and wider participation. Above all, it upholds the democratic principles which form a pivotal part in the Panchayat election process and is not to its derogation but on the contrary, furthers it. To that extent, the relevant provision of the Act of 2000 shall be deemed to be read into the applicable provision of the (West Bengal Panchayat Elections) Act of 2003 in respect of filing of nomination papers, purely by implication…”

Regarding the High Court order, Mr. Dwiwedi said that “The order was passed without even an enquiry into the facts relating to the alleged prevention of the candidates nominated by the appellant [CPI (M)] from filing their nomination…”.

The Bench didn’t agree with the submissions that the poll process was vitiated and should be stayed quoting several judgments which held that once the poll process has begun, it can’t be interfered with by any court. The Bench has now posted the case for July 3.
 

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