The inordinate delay in holding elections to the local bodies in Tamil Nadu has brought to focus the efficacy of the State Election Commission, a Constitutional body entrusted with the task of holding polls to the rural and urban local bodies in the State. The election to local bodies in the State which should have taken place before 31 December 2016 is getting delayed year after year.
Tamil Nadu’s 12, 524 village panchayats, 388 panchayat unions, 521 town panchayats, 31 district panchayats , 15 municipal corporations and 121 municipalities have been without elected representatives since January 1, 2017. The non-holding of elections to these bodies have resulted in the State being denied basic grant and performance grant worth Rs 4,100 crore by the Centre. “For the last three years, the local self-government bodies are in a crippled state because of bureaucratic rule. The MPs, MLAs and the bureaucrats are not concerned about micro-problems,” said T Ramakrishnan, author and commentator who is an authority about the style of functioning of the local self Governments in the State.
Though the State Election Commission had come out with notification of polls to the local bodies in October 2016 and people had started filing nomination papers for the election, the opposition DMK approached the Madras High Court with a plea that the process of delimitation of wards and reservation for Scheduled Castes remained inconclusive and hence the election should be postponed.
“The election to the local bodies could have been held in 2016 October itself. The DMK rushing to the High Court with a plea to stay the election process was because of its fear of losing one more election. The party was obliterated by Jayalalithaa in the 2011 and 2016 Assembly elections and the 2014 Lok Sabha election. Hence both Karunanidhi, the then party chief and MK Stalin, the working president were apprehensive of another wash out,” said Govindarajan Satyamurthy, veteran scribe and political commentator. He said the DMK was fully aware of the shortcomings in delimitation of wards as well as reservation of seats for the Scheduled Castes.
Since then, lot of things have happened in Tamil Nadu. “The untimely demise of Jayalalithaa on December 5, 2016 created a turmoil in the AIADMK from which the party has not yet recovered. The DMK lost the ailing Karunanidhi and Stalin is yet to show his mettle as party chief notwithstanding the massive win registered by the party in the 2019 Lok Sabha election from the State,” said Satyamurthy.
But Prof G Palanithurai, Head, Rajiv Gandhi Chair for Panchayati Raj Studies, Gandhigram Rural University, who has more than three decades specialisation in Grassroots Democracy, Decentralized Governance and Development Management , has doubts about the efficacy of the State Election Commission. “The SEC is an extension of the Election Commission of India and is a Constitutional authority tasked with the holding of elections to the local bodies. It enjoys the same authority as that of the ECI. But what we find is that the SEC is often relegated as yet another branch of the State Government and this has resulted in uncertainty associated with election to local bodies. It is a sad state of affair in Tamil Nadu,” said Prof Palanithurai.
He pointed out that if the major political parties in the State were serious in their demand for holding regular elections to the local bodies, they should convene an all party meeting and resolve the issues.
“The Madras High Court had issued strictures on the State election Commission in 2006 for not holding the election to local bodies and it had made a big impact resulting in the poll process. But I do not see any seriousness in the political parties which are always blamimh each other,” said Prof Palanithurai.
Interestingly, Tamil Nadu is the pioneer in holding democratic elections as earlier as CE 1,000 according to inscriptions found from Uttaramerur. Paranthaka Chola who ruled the province during CE 907-955 is credited with holding elections in a transparent and democratic manner, says these inscription. Tamil Nadu with ultra modern technological system is finding it difficult to hold elections to local bodies, the school of democracy , says Ramakrishnan.