Travelling through Assam's several districts, one often spots a hoarding by the roadside put up by the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP). The hoarding exhorts the villager to assert his rights by becoming an active member of the gram sabha and the gram panchayat.But where is the panchayat? Panchayat elections haven't been held in Assam for several years now. The last time they were held was in 1992, when the then ruling Congress swept the polls. The terms of those panchayats expired in 1997. And since then, the ordinary villager has had no redressal body to ensure his basic rights.Assam, incidentally, is the only other state in India apart from Bihar which has not held panchayat elections after the 73rd and 74th amendments to the constitution, which made it mandatory for all states to hold panchayat elections within six months of the expiry of the term of the previous elected body.But going through back issues of newspapers, one also finds one news item being repeated every alternate month: panchayat elections will be held within the next three months. The news item has appeared at least ten times since the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP)-led government headed by Prafulla Kumar Mahanta assumed power in May 1996. Some announcements have been made by the chief minister himself and some by his panchayat and rural development minister, Sahidul Alam Choudhury. But the elections didn't take place.Last Thursday, the news item appeared again. This time of course, it is an `official' announcement, saying that elections are slated for the second fortnight of October. Accordingly, the state's 21 districts have been divided into three clusters, the polls in which will be held in three phases. (Assam has 23 districts, but the two hill districts, Karbi Anglong and North Cachar Hills, are autonomous districts and they are not covered by the Panchayat Act.)With this announcement being considered as final, speculation over whether the Mahanta government was actually interested in having panchayats constituted with representatives of the people has finally been put to rest. Interestingly, the State Election Commission (SEC), which had been urging the state government to hold the panchayat polls as early as possible, had completed its task of preparing electoral rolls in January itself. Accordingly, 1.15 crore persons will be able to exercise their franchise for 2,486 gaon panchayats, 196 anchalik panchayats and 21 zilla parishads.More interestingly, the state government had in June last year imposed a ban on procuring election materials, and also released the first instalment of Rs 15.5 crore required to set the electoral process rolling. This year, a frustrated SEC had to announce a deadline of June 30 to compel the state government into talking a final decision on holding elections. It was this deadline, coupled with repeated attacks by opposition parties, which finally forced out a `yes' from the state government on Thursday.However, tribal groups have been opposed to panchayat elections, as they would create two centres of power in the state's tribal areas. In Assam, all the tribal areas are already under autonomous councils, and setting up panchayats would mean that hence, two bodies would be vying for Central funds for the same developmental works.The Assam government had passed on this potential controversy to the Centre, which, after much deliberation, said that panchayat polls would have to be held in the autonomous council areas of the districts in the state's plains.According to State Election Commissioner Abdul Malik, the Panchayat Act only states that panchayats cannot be constituted in the Sixth Schedule areas. Meaning, that only the two autonomous districts of Karbi Anglong and North Cachar Hills do no come under the purview of the Act.Opposition parties have also been complaining that in the absence of elections, funds directly earmarked for the panchayat bodies have not been released. The Congress has been complaining of large-scale corruption in the utilisation of funds meant for rural development, which are currently being routed through district authorities in the absence of elected panchayat bodies.The Mahanta government has also been regularly drawing flak from the media for delaying elections. The Assam Tribune, the state's leading newspaper, commented recently: ``It is really mysterious that the Mahanta government has deprived the people of their right to choose village-level administration which is guaranteed by law and is essential for rural development.''Till the other day, the AGP government definitely had doubts in holding the elections for one particular reason: that it might lose despite being in power. But the results of by-elections to three Assembly constituencies held last month seems to have prompted it in changing its mind. The party won two of the three seats, the third going to the BJP.Mahanta now seems confident that his party has regained lost ground in the rural areas. Thus, the decision to hold the panchayats polls. As the Tribune observes, ``The opposition Congress, which till the other day was demanding holding the panchayat polls confident of victory, has now lost steam after drawing blank in the assembly by-polls.''But, while the panchayat polls have been finally announced, Mahanta will now face another question: What about election to the municipal bodies? The term of the elected members of the Guwahati Municipal Corporation, for instance expired only last month. And there is hardly any indication that Mahanta will hold the GMC election during his term, which expires in May next year.Readers can send feedback to focus@expressindia.com
