The SEC has now sent a letter to the DMs and SSPs of Nainital, Pithoragarh, Champawat and Pauri Garhwal distri... Read More

NAINITAL: The state election commission (SEC) on Friday wrote to district magistrates (DM) and senior superintendent of police (SSPs) of four districts of the hill state to find 50 allegedly missing representatives after it appeared in a news report recently. This comes following a recent Uttarakhand high court order framing guidelines for the three-tier panchayat elections, including treating of news reports as formal complaints, thereby, highlighting malpractices in the electoral process.

The missing legislators are the members of the zila and block panchayats who were elected on October 21. The elections for the heads of these zila and block panchayats are slated to be held after Diwali.

The SEC has now sent a letter to the DMs and SSPs of Nainital, Pithoragarh , Champawat and Pauri Garhwal districts to investigate the matter and file an FIR against those accused in the case and to find the panchayat members. The letter signed by secretary, SEC, reads, The news report said that around 50 members from eight blocks of these four districts have gone missing. Therefore, the officers should take necessary steps to investigate the matter and find the missing representatives and file an FIR in the case.

Speaking to TOI, the SEC secretary, Roshan Lal, said that this is the first time the SEC has treated a news report as a complaint. The recent news is disturbing and therefore it needs to be investigated. The decision has been taken in accordance with the guidelines set by the honorable high court and we will be monitoring the reports to find such cases, he said.

Notably, the Uttarakhand HC, while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Vikasnagar resident, Vipul Jain, had asked the SEC, among other things, to also reduce the time between the results of elections for Gram Pradhan as well as block and district level panchayat members and the election for their heads to bare minimum.

Meanwhile, Jain claimed that this is a standard practice in panchayat elections and such instances are common in the murky business of horse trading. There have been numerous such instances where the elected representatives are taken on lucrative holidays to win them over and get their support for the elections of head of block and district level panchayat chairpersons, he said.

