‘Panchayat elections to see several first-time voters in rural areas of Darjeeling district’

Article 243E(1) of the Indian Constitution says: “Every Panchayat, unless sooner dissolved under any law for the time being in force, shall continue for five years from the date appointed for its first meeting and no longer.” This clearly means that every five years Panchayat elections are to be held in India. The irony is that many voters in rural Darjeeling district will be voting in Panchayat elections for the first time because of the fact that the last time the Panchayat elections were held in the Hills was in 2000.

Darjeeling became an exception to the rule of the three-tier Panchayat system with the formation of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council in 1988. Article 243M of the Constitution of India provided for a two-tier system in the DGHC area, doing away with the Zilla Parishad.

In 2000, when Panchayat elections were last held in the Hills of Darjeeling, even Article 243M of the Constitution was overlooked and only a single-tier system was imposed in the Hills with Gram Panchayats being constituted. This single-tier system too was dispensed within 2005 when Ghising threatened to relegate DGHC to the junkyard if Panchayats were formed in the Hills of Darjeeling.

DGHC saw the Panchayat system as a threat to its very existence and complained of dilution of powers and functions owing to the Panchayat. The area under DGHC and later GTA (after it replaced the DGHC) has remained without the legally mandated Panchayat system since then.

The announcement for the Panchayats election in the GTA area along with the rest of the state finds the Hills of Darjeeling in a state of excitement. With the political mercury rising in the Hills all eyes are on the drama that promises to play out in the run up to the elections.

The political parties in the Hills have already come up with a preview of this with a hurriedly patched up grand Gorkha alliance to take on the ruling Anit Thapa led Bhartiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Party (BGPP) and TMC. The United Gorkha Manch (UGM) includes the BJP, Ajoy Edward’s Hamro Party, Bimal Gurung’s Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, the GNLF, the CPRM and a few other smaller parties. This alliance will no doubt prove to be a major opponent to the BGPP and TMC at the grass-root level but only if they stay together as a unit and not start bickering again.

The differences that the GJM had with the BJP and that between the HP and the GNLF are still fresh in everyone’s mind. It remains to be seen if this newly constructed uneasy union will stick together and become a winning combination or inflated egos will once again take over.

Their opponent of course would be the TMC and BGPM combination. The anti incumbency factor, the public’s perception that this alliance is anti-statehood and the recent corruption allegations in the Har Ghar Jal Yojna could waylay their Panchayat aspirations. Though if their performance in the GTA elections is any indicator, then it appears that this political combination is at the moment riding the strongest and swiftest horse.