TeaIn 1992, the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments allowed states to choose between direct and indirect methods of electing a village panchayat president, also known as a sarpanch. Today, in 28 of India’s 36 states and union territories, sarpanches are directly elected by voters, while in others, they are directly elected by ward members.
back and forth in maharashtra
In July 2017, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Maharashtra government amended the ‘Maharashtra Gram Panchayat Act 1959’ through an ordinance to adopt the direct method of election of sarpanches. According to this ordinance, the directly elected Sarpanch is the ex-officio chairman of all development committees. In addition, sarpanches are barred from a no-confidence motion for the first two years and the last six months of their tenure. However, in July 2019, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government of Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena reversed the amendment and reverted to indirect election mode, only for the newly formed government, led by Eknath Shinde, to return to alliance with the BJP. For direct mode of election in August 2022.
BJP leaning towards direct elections
The BJP prefers direct elections in local politics mainly for two reasons. First, till 2016, the Congress and NCP held most of the seats of village council sarpanches and municipal council presidents in Maharashtra. However, in 2016, the BJP government implemented Direct elections at the municipal council level to elect its president. In the four phases of local body elections that followed, the BJP won the maximum number of Municipal Council President seats.
The results in the urban local bodies prompted the BJP to introduce direct elections to the gram sabha elections as well. Here too the party has won the maximum number of sarpanch seats. Thus, through direct elections, BJP is increasing its vote base in rural areas, which were mainly ruled by NCP and Congress.
Second, in indirect elections, sarpanches are elected by directly elected ward members, and ward members elected from seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and women, have a greater say in the election of sarpanches, which is the BJP’s Will be harmful for However, in direct elections, all elected ward members from reserved categories do not play any role in the election of sarpanches.
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Impact on the development of SC/ST
My research also focused on the impact of the first change in July 2017 on the development of Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs). I used data from the Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP) and the election of sarpanches to predict the (causal) effect of directly elected sarpanches on expenditure on development activities for marginalized communities, weaker sections of society and other development sectors. used.
I find that directly elected sarpanches spend less on development activities for SCs and STs than indirectly elected sarpanches. However, if the directly elected sarpanch belongs to reserved SC or ST seats, the GPDP expenditure on SC/ST development activities increases by 2 per cent per year.
Moreover, the expenditure on poverty alleviation programs has come down significantly during the tenure of directly elected sarpanches.
In addition, GDP spending on road infrastructure increased, but spending on health, electrification, sanitation and land reforms decreased significantly.
What drives these findings?
The average voter in Maharashtra’s villages is mostly OBC, Maratha and ‘upper’ castes, which together make up more than 70 per cent of the state’s population. Thus, the expenditure on these groups is mostly targeted. On the other hand, since SCs and STs have less say in the election of sarpanches, spending on their development is ignored. Thus, during the tenure of the directly elected sarpanch, the welfare of marginalized groups may be compromised due to the existing social system.
Also, spending on “visible goods” like road infrastructure adds up significantly as it helps sarpanches to show villagers the development work done by them, which can easily help them win future elections . On the other hand, spending on essential but less visible goods such as health, sanitation, electrification and land reform falls short, suggesting that redistributive policies have a stronger “visible effect” in directly elected sarpanches.
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Direct election system is incomplete
Many scholars say that direct elections are costly, which may prevent low-income and marginalized groups from contesting elections, thereby affecting their development. Therefore, the existing provisions should be amended to encourage them. For example, according to a 2017 Maharashtra State Election Commission notification, the election expenditure limit for gram sabhas with 7-9 wards is Rs 50,000, for 10-13 wards Rs 1,00,000 and for 15- Rs 1,75,000 Was. 17 Ward. Many parties and candidates violate the expenditure limit, which increases the cost of contesting elections and discourages people from low income groups from contesting elections. Since gram panchayats have many villages around them, people often know the candidates. Thus, keeping the expenditure limit at Rs 5,000-7,000 for each ward will reduce the financial burden on poor candidates. The campaign would then be based on connecting with people instead of spending on expensive campaigns.
Furthermore, in Madhya Pradesh during the 1990s, it was observed that excessive powers given to sarpanchs impede village development, and governments during the 1990s made several amendments to reduce the power of sarpanchs. Therefore, it is necessary to maintain checks and balances on local governance at the state and central levels alike.
Furthermore, since sarpanches are the ex-officio chairpersons of all development committees, previous studies suggest that they often allocate more policies to their home villages, which can negatively impact other villages in gram sabhas.
Recommendations for direct election
Firstly, I propose to introduce direct democracy in the Gram Sabhas. The voters of Gram Panchayats will vote for economic development policies. Voters will be allowed to participate in the decision-making process as results show that expenditure on visible items has increased during the tenure of directly elected sarpanches, and expenditure on important but less visible areas has decreased.
Second, I see a consistent reduction in the GPDP budget for SC/ST and women and child development during the tenure of directly elected sarpanches. I propose that development committees in village panchayats should be diversified so that historically marginalized groups get representation in the decision-making process.
Third, a significant concern behind the move from indirect election to direct election was that ward members often removed indirectly elected sarpanches from office using a no-confidence motion. However, the 2017 amendment gave more power to directly elected sarpanches by barring them from moving a no-confidence motion for the first two years and the last six months of their tenure. Even if the ward members want to bring a motion of no confidence, only the voters should have the right to remove the sarpanches by secret ballot in the gram sabha (village council meeting). To ensure accountability of sarpanches to village councils, I propose that the removal of sarpanches through a no-confidence motion should require a vote of at least two-thirds of ward members and at least 50 percent of gram sabha participants Should vote against it. Sarpanch by ballot at any time during the tenure of the Sarpanch.
Amit Jadhav is a PhD Scholar at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He tweeted @amit_s_jadhav. Thoughts are personal.
This is an edited extract from the author’s study titled ‘Parliamentary versus Presidential Democracy: Does it Make a Difference at the Local Level Economic Development’. Read the full paper ‘Evidence from India’ Here,
(Edited by Prashant)