When the three-tier Panchayat elections will be held in the remaining 12 districts of the state except Haridwar is hidden in the depths of the future, but the decision to hand over the responsibility of administrator to the outgoing president in the District Panchayats has also intensified the political turmoil. BJP has said that this decision is in accordance with the provisions contained in the Panchayati Raj Act and the sentiments of the public representatives. At the same time, Congress surrounded the government and said that this decision has hurt the belief of those who believe in democracy. There is a provision in the Panchayati Raj Act that if due to any reason the elections in the three-tier Panchayats are not held on time, then administrators can be appointed in them for a maximum period of six months. It was told that the administrator has not been defined in the Act. However, there is a special provision for the District Panchayat that the government can appoint a person as administrator. Probably on this basis, it has been decided to appoint outgoing presidents as administrators in the District Panchayats. However, discussions have intensified in the political corridors about this. It is being said that when the outgoing presidents can be given the responsibility of administrator in the district panchayats, then why not in the case of Pradhans and area Panchayat chiefs. Not one but many such issues are being raised about the panchayats.
Number of district panchayats 13
Actually, if we look at the status of district panchayats, their number in the state is 13. BJP occupies the post of president of Haridwar district panchayat. Out of the remaining 12 districts, the presidents in nine are from BJP. Talking about the remaining districts, among these, former MLA Rajendra Bhandari, husband of Chamoli district panchayat president Rajni Bhandari, had joined BJP before the Lok Sabha elections. Apart from this, Deepak Bijalwan, who won the post of district panchayat president in Uttarkashi as an independent, later joined the Congress. The district panchayat president in Almora is from Congress.
