Gujarat’s panchayat elections are round the corner. This time 1,267 panchayats out of the 10,118 gram panchayat that will observe mid-term polls this year have been declared as Samras panchayat.
The polling will be conducted on 19th December over 27,000 polling booths. Counting of votes will be held on 21st December. There are around 14,000 panchayat among 18,000 villages in Gujarat.
Panchayat elections are conducted by state election Commission. This time due to the very high number of wards, polling will be conducted using ballot paper instead of EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines). In all about 54,000 ballot boxes for the elections will be used.
So, actually what does samras panchayat means?
When villagers decide to choose their “ward members and Sarpanchs” through consensus and don’t opt for polls.
Government provides incentives to such samras panchayat as, a lot of election expenses gets saved.
The visionary Samras Scheme in Gujarat was introduced in 1994 and launched full-fledgedly in 2002. Samras proves out to be consensus oriented and gives more strength to local government as well but also holds criticism of being biased and inclined towards those who have power and money.
