Congress objects as two members elected to panels in BJP-ruled panchayat body

In the latest spell of appointments, women members have been given charge as chairpersons of seven out of eight committees of the panchayat body.

Amrut Makwana, a BJP member, moved a proposal to elect nine members of the general board to the executive committee of the district panchayat. The nine names included Geeta Chavda, a Congress member representing Dumiyani. The proposal was approved with a majority vote and subsequently, Pravin Kayada was elected chairman of the executive committee.

Later, Leelavanti Thummar proposed electing Geeta Chauhan, a Congress member from the Bhadli seat of the district panchayat, and four others as members of the women and child development committee and the proposal was adopted by a majority vote.

Only the standing committee elected a male member as its chairman while the rest elected women members as chairpersons. Kayada highlighted that the Parliament has cleared a Bill to give 33 per cent reservation to women to Lok Sabha and state assemblies but Rajkot district panchayat elected women as chairpersons of 80 per cent of its committees. Pravin Kayada added that Congress should not oppose a move encouraging women to take leadership.

However, Arjun Khatariya, leader of the Opposition in the District Panchayat, said Chavda and Chauhan defied the party whip in accepting membership of the executive committee and the women and child development committee respectively. He said Congress had issued a whip, asking the members to attend the special general board meeting but not to agree to any proposal naming them as a member of any committee. He said that he would recommend that Congress suspends the duo from primary membership of the party and disqualify them as members of the district panchayat.

In the general election to Rajkot district panchayat in 2021, BJP had won 26 seats while Congress managed to win only 10 seats.