Maharashtra Gram Panchayat Elections 2021: Parties in a tussle

The polling for the Maharashtra Gram Panchayat Elections commenced on friday, 15th of January, 2020 covering over 14,000 panchayats spread across the 34 districts of the state. The polls had begun in a peaceful manner keeping COVID-19 guidelines in consideration with a turnout of about 79%. The counting of votes began on the morning of 18th of January and as per the latest update, NCP won six panchayats in Parli while the BJP soars ahead in Dhule district. The event has been trending on the social media platforms:

Gram Panchayat or Village Council is a basic governing institute in the rural areas. It is a democratic structure at the very grass roots level in the country. It is a political institute and acts as a cabinet of the village. There are about 250,000 gram panchayats in India.

Timeline:
⦁   According to trends available at 10:30 am: Shiv Sena was leading in 323 seats, BJP was also going strong and was ahead 261 while the NCP was at 218. Congress remained at 124
⦁   By noon, trends showed that Shiv Sena was surging ahead in 359 seats, while the opposition BJP had garnered 336 seats. Meanwhile, the NCP was leading in 259 seats
⦁   By 1:10 PM, BJP was leading at 390 seats, while Shiv Sena was at 381. NCP and Congress were at 283 and 262 respectively
⦁   By 2:15, BJP was leading at 451 seats while Shiv Sena was at 425 seats. The Congress party overtook NCP at 320 while the latter fell behind at 300
⦁   BJP Party spokesperson Keshav Upadhye proclaims in a press conference that the party will win in over 6000 panchayats
⦁   By 05:13 PM, an astonishing but wonderfuful trend was witnessed, a transgender candidate named Anjali Patil won from the Bhadli Budruk Panchayat in Jalgaon district, as per reportsin local media. Certainly a big victory for one of the most neglected communities in the country

As per reports, the gram panchayat polls were held in the wake of the ruling Shiv Sena -NCP-Congress alliance's victory in the graduates' and teachers' constituencies in the Legislative Council elections that took place last year. The alliance won four out of six seats, while an Independent candidate and the BJP won one each.

The districts and the district wise number of gram panchayats where polling was held are given below:

Thane (143), Palghar (3), Raigad (78), Ratnagiri (360), Sindhudurg (66), Nashik (565), Dhule (182), Jalgaon (687), Ahmednagar (705), Nandurbar (64), Pune (649), Solapur (593), Satara (652), Sangli (142), Kolhapur (386), Aurangabad (579), Beed (111), Nanded (1,013), Osmanabad (382), Parbhani (498), Jalna (446), Latur (383), Hingoli (421), Amravati (537), Akola (214), Yavatmal (925), Washim (152), Buldhana (498), Nagpur (127), Wardha (50), Chandrapur (604), Bhandara (145), Gondia (181) and Gadchiroli (170).
The Election Commission allowed those suffering from coronavirus infection or those in quarantine to cast their vote half an hour before the polling ended.
Its also pretty surprising to note that non-populist parties like AIMIM and AAP made progressive leaps:

What is also noteworthy is the fact that this is the second time since Congress, NCP and Shiva Sena have fought elections together.

The Gram Panchayats form a crucial backbone of our democratic structure. Some of its administrative functions include:
⦁   Public work and welfare functions, such as maintenance, repair and construction of roads, drains, bridges, and wells
⦁   Install and maintain street lamps
⦁   Provide primary education.

Social and Economic functions (not obligatory in nature)
⦁   Construct libraries, marriage halls, etc
⦁   Establish and run fair-price shops and cooperative credit societies
⦁   Establishment of gardens, ponds, and orchards

A Gram panchyat's term of office is five years. Elections take place every five years. All people over the age of 21 who are residents of the territory of the that village's Gram panchayat can vote.

For women's empowerment and to encourage participation of women in the democratic process, the government of India has set some restrictions on Gram panchayat elections, reserving atleast one third of the seats for women, as well as reserving seats for scheduled castes and tribes.
As per the last recorded census, the total rural population of the state was around 61,556,074 therefore the results of these elections throws a plenty of light on the mood of the people. Maharashtra faces one of the largest agrarian crisis in the country due to the unavalibility of robust irrigation systems. Mahatma Gandhi once commented that the "future of India lies in its villages", sadly, the makers of modern India seem to have forgotton this famous statement.
To keep yourselves updated with the latest trends on the internet, visit Checkbrand.

January 25, 2021

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