Toss up between ADC and Panchayat : Confusions galore
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: September 13, 2012 -

Autonomous District Council versus the Gram Panchayat or the Zilla Parishad. This sounds juvenile, but it seems certain factors are at play to realise this.

A 24 hour bandh imposed at Sadar Hills to protest the inclusion of four polling stations of Bongbal Khullen District Council Constituency under the Sadar Hills Autonomous District Council in the Panchayat and Zilla Parishad election.

A 10 hour bandh called by the Saikul Area Foothills Naga Association against the inclusion of some villages in the Panchayat election, though these villages purportedly fall within the Autonomous District Council and people of seven Gorkha villages in Sadar Hills announcing that they would skip the Panchayat election on the ground that they prefer to be included in the Sadar Hills Autonomous District Council.

How does one explain the case of some villages simultaneously coming under the ADC and the Panchayat ?

A case of human error creeping in while mapping out the areas that should come under the ADC or a case of new developments in the 26 years between 1984 and 2010 ?

The election to the present ADCs was held in 2010 after the last election was held in 1984 while in Senapati the last election was held in 1988.

Twenty six years is a long time and in the interregnum new settlements could have come up. It is obvious that this was conveniently overlooked by the State Government when election to the ADC was held in 2010 and this could be one reason for the confusion prevailing over some villages, especially in Sadar Hills.

The last Panchayat election was held in 2007 and Manipur is going to witness the fourth Panchayat election today (September 13).

The interesting question is the status of the villages which have cried foul, in the last three such elections.

Did they take part in the last three elections willingly or were they made to participate for want of a better option, in the backdrop of the fact that the ADCs were in a state of comatose then ?

If these villages indeed came under the Panchayat in the earlier three elections then why were they included in the ADC election, which was held two years back ?

This is a question that the Government should answer.

There is something weird in even imagining that a locality or an area can come under two Assembly Constituencies but yet this is the situation in which some villages find themselves in today.

The Government would do wise to take up corrective measures with the urgency it demands or else the very notion of devolving power to the grass root level will stand eroded, considerably.

Such a situation does not augur well for either the ADCs or the Panchayat/Zilla Parishad.

Dual citizenship may be fine with some countries, but there is nothing charming about the confusion over where one stands, vis-a-vis the ADC and the Panchayat.