After the Assembly by-elections, the focus of the politics in Uttarakhand has shifted to Panchayati Raj bodies. The elections for important positions of President District Panchayats and Block Pramukhs are on anvil and both Congress and BJP are gearing themselves to get their workers elected in as many positions as possible.
In the three tier Panchayati Raj institution the position of the Block Pramukhs and District Panchayat President are most sought after.
After the direct elections for the Panchayati raj bodies on June 18, 21 and 24 in the 12 districts of state that went to the Panchayat polls the 89 positions of Block Pramukhs and 12 positions of Member district Panchayat would be elected indirectly now.Apart from them the positions of Deputy Pradhan, Junior Deputy Pramukh, Senior Deputy Pramukh and Vice President District Panchayat would also be elected.
As per the State Election Commission schedule the nominations for the Block positions is on July 24, the date of withdrawal of names is July 26 and the election and result declaration would be on July 27. Similarly nominations for the District Panchayat position is on July 30, withdrawal of names is on August 2 while elections and result declaration would be on August 5.
After the debacle in the lok Sabha polls a wary Congress refrained from officially declaring the names of its candidates for the directly elected positions of Member block Panchayat and Member District Panchayat but after the declaration of the results claimed that its workers have won in majority of seats.The BJP too is claiming that it would be able to get its supporters elected in most of the district and block positions.