The Jharkhand State Election Commission (JSEC) has intensified preparations for electing the village government in the State. If all goes well, elections can be held in the state in five phases from the second week of December to the first week of January under the three-tier Panchayati Raj system.

State Parliamentary Affairs and Rural Development Minister Alamgir Alam said that the government's effort is to conduct panchayat elections by the end of December this year.

The tenure of gram panchayats, panchayat samitis and zilla parishads in Jharkhand was completed in November-December 2020 itself. Due to the unforeseen circumstances arising due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the state government has given extension to Panchayati Raj system twice. In order to give extension to the panchayats for the second time, the state government had to pass a bill in the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly during the last monsoon session.

But, now the situation arising out of Covid in the state is rapidly becoming normal, so the exercise of election of panchayats at all three levels has intensified.

State Election Commissioner DK Tiwari said that under the reservation rules, the process of reserve-unreserved panchayats in all the districts is in the final stage. Election symbols have also been fixed at various levels. From November 1, the process of adding new names to the voter list, revising the voter list is also starting. All the districts have been instructed that by the first week of November, all the details related to the panchayats should be uploaded on the website. The list of personnel and officers to be engaged in election duty in almost all the districts has been updated.

Earlier this month, on the issue of law and order during the election, the Election Commission held a meeting with the DC-SP of all the districts through video conferencing by Rahul Sharma, Secretary, Panchayati Raj Department, IG operation AV Homkar. There are a total of 4402 gram panchayats in Jharkhand, where besides the Mukhiya (Gram Pradhan), 54330 gram panchayat members, 5423 panchayat samiti members and 545 zilla parishad members are to be elected. Overall, under the three-tier Panchayati Raj system, local public representatives will be elected for 64700 posts.

As soon as the administrative exercise of Panchayat elections intensified, political campaigns in the villages also intensified. The potential candidates for various posts have started public relations. Panchayat elections may not be conducted on a party basis, but various political parties are preparing a list of those candidates, who can be supported and strengthened their position in the panchayats to the zilla parishads.

Jharkhand Congress spokesperson Rajiv Ranjan Prasad said that it will be our party's effort to elect more and more candidates with Congress ideology in the panchayats. Jharkhand BJP spokesperson Pratul Shahdeo says that the BJP has a strong organization at every booth. The party has its roots in villages and panchayats. In every panchayat, there will be an enthusiastic participation of the BJP's ideology workers in the elections.