The panchayat polls in Jharkhand are likely to be deferred for another six months. The polls will be held after completion of electoral roll revision. The State Election Commission has urged voters to update their voter ID card online by visiting the Election Commission's Voter Helpline App.
This can be done easily on mobile phones, while those who are facing difficulties in updating their voter’s id online can visit nearest Pragya Kendra where volunteers will be there to assist the voters in updating their voter ID.
The State Election Commission for updating the voter Id card has also decided to set up special camps where potential voters can visit for updating their voter ID. The State Electoral officer has also urged the potential voters who have attained the age of 18 on January 1, 2021, to register their names in the voter list.A senior official at the state election commission requesting anonymity said, “The state election commission is now in process of revising the electoral roll, the panchayat elections will be held only after the process is completed. The state election commission will also organize special camps on November 20, 21, 27 and 28 for registration of new voters.” 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.
Earlier, it was planned that elections under the three-tier Panchayati Raj system was to be held in five phases from the second week of December to the first week of January and the Parliamentary affairs minister Alamgir Alam had even talked about holding panchayat election by end on this year, but now it appears that election will be held next year.
Moreover, state minority affairs minister Hafizul Hassan has indicated that panchayat elections will be held next year. Hassan, who was in Giridih as part of State foundation day function a few days back said that the Panchayat elections will be announced in January.
After this, Panchayat elections will be conducted within 45 days.He further said that important development works were stalled during the Corona period and if elections are held now then development work will once again be stalled due to imposition of the model code of conduct.
Meanwhile, state BJP unit president Deepak Prakash said that the party will exert pressure on the state government for holding panchayat elections. Prakash said that the ruling party is afraid of holding panchayat elections as in the past two years no development work has been done in rural areas.
There are a total of 4402 gram panchayats in Jharkhand, where besides Mukhiya (Gram Pradhan), 54330 gram panchayat members, 5423 panchayat samiti members and 545 zilla parishad members are to be elected. Overall, under three-tier Panchayati Raj system, local public representatives will be elected for 64700 posts.