Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department Minister Neelkanth Singh Munda assured on Sunday that selection of full-time State Election Commissioner (SEC) was under process. He said that the Government was well aware of problems caused at ground level in absence of SEC, and the process of filling up this long vacant post was on.
“We know that many Panchayats are facing problems, as their representatives have not been elected yet due to vacant post of State Election Commissioner. We believe that the process of filling up this post must be on. However, we will discuss it once again with Chief Minister,” said Munda.
The post of State Election Commission went vacant with completion of extended service period of former IPS Shiv Basant, who retired from this post on July 6. With his retirement, entire by-poll process of Panchayat representatives has come on a halt. This has also negatively affected government’s efforts to strengthen villages through plans of rural development.
The State had gone in Panchayat polls in November last year only to come up with 1,554 vacant seats after election, as those seats couldn’t see even a single candidate contesting the poll. Most of the seats among them were ‘reserved’ in nature. The Commission had reported as many as 295 seats of Panchayats vacant in East Singhbhoom district alone.
As per Commission report, as many as 13 seats of Mukhiya remain vacant, in which 10 seats remain vacant in Sahibganj alone. Panchayats across states are running short of 1,523 Ward Members in total, largest in number among Mukhiya, Panchayat Committee Member and Ward Member. These seats were to be filled by a by-poll, which was scheduled to take place anytime in September-October this year itself.
Though Munda didn’t give any assurance as to when new SEC would take charge, he said that consultation about the same must be on.