Gram panchayat elections are due to be held in Uttar Pradesh in 2021, but the villages are already buzzing with activity. People who have not seen their representatives in four years are suddenly discovering they care for them, or at least their vote! This, when the dates are yet to be announced. One can only imagine how intense the vote-wooing is going to be once that happens.
The tenure of pradhans in 58,758 gram panchayats, 75 zilla panchayats and 821 area panchayats of Uttar Pradesh ends on December 25 this year, and three-tier panchayat elections will be held in 2021, probably between February and April. The final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on December 29.
Contenders for the post of pradhan, both current ones and aspiring candidates, are busy in the service of the villagers — the devotion and work, of course, depends on the numbers of voters in a household.
Candidates hoping to be pradhans, panchs and district panchayat members are spreading themselves thin, trying to cover as many households and grab as many eyeballs as possible. Hoardings with their smiling faces and those of party leaders have been placed at important points of towns, and meetings are held in nooks and crannies of villages and in chowpals. Every function is being attended.
A young aspirant, a second-time contender from Barabanki told Gaon Connection that “the election of pradhan is more challenging than that of an MP [Member of Parliament]. We have a voter base of 1,500, and three of the 10 candidates are from my own family. Every vote counts and has to be carefully tended to. For the past year, this is all I have been doing”.
What about his election expenditure? “I can’t tell you. After all, all this is in the service of villagers,” he added.
Current pradhans, even those who did nothing during their tenure, are busy rushing to complete development work. The new contestants are not just trying to sell themselves to the voters, they are also poking holes in the narrative of the current office bearers.
With paddy harvest almost over in the villages of Uttar Pradesh, farmers gather in tea shops and local sweetmeat shops to discuss the next sowing of paddy, and who will be their next pradhan. The atmosphere is charged as people with opposing views argue fiercely.
In a group gathered in a tea shop in a village in Suratganj block in Barabanki is Mohd Sharif, a contender. The fragrance of bubbling tea is heavy in the air, and the debate is equally fascinating. “Nowadays, our current pradhan keeps his motorcycle’s tank absolutely full,” smiled 46-year-old Ramu Yadav, swirling the tea upon hot coals. “He doesn’t deny anyone anything. Be it the hospital or the block headquarters, he’s always willing to drop people at their destination,” he said. And, Mohd. Sharif got his next promise. “If I am made the pradhan, I too shall leave no stone unturned in serving the people,” he solemnly stated.
Since it is a three-tier election, the positions up for grabs are the gram pradhan, the panch of the wards, area panchayat members and district panchayat members. And so, work is on from the district headquarter to the smallest street of a village. It is in the villages that the real battle is being fought.
It is alleged by many that candidates’ vehicles have turned taxis, that parties where liquor flows freely are being organised and meat-based spreads laid out to charm voters.
Babadeen is 55 years old and belongs to Chheda village of Suratganj block in Barabanki. He’s seen a lot of these elections, but he’s still surprised by what he sees. “Nowadays, whenever the current pradhan or any candidate for the panchayat elections sees us, they do not go without enquiring about our welfare. I’ve been told to call them if I have any difficulty,” he told Gaon Connection.
Tinku Arkvanshi, who is 32 years old, is amused to see local leader after local leader visit his home in Neri gram panchayat of Pisanwan block in Sitapur, about 100 kilometres from Barabanki. “Six people have come home for canvassing. People who never acknowledged the existence of village elders are constantly touching their feet now,” he laughed.
One candidate even tried hosting an event of Alha, a folk tradition in Uttar Pradesh, but police put a spanner in the works.
In Shahjahanpur, about 95 km from Sitapur, village elder Roshan Lal has a conversation with another elderly person. A local youth said they were discussing election malpractices. Hearing the conversation, Om Prakash Gangwar, who is 34 years old, told Gaon Connection: “Those who sell their votes cannot speak about lack of development.”
The villagers see through the fake affection that is showered on them before elections. “If there is an election, the pradhan will do everything you say, even do your domestic chores. Once he wins the election, he won’t bother to check how you are,” remarked Roshan Lal, who is conversing with Gangwar.
So, what is needed to win an election? Will good work suffice? “No no. One needs to maintain good relations with all to earn votes. In earlier elections, those who worked could not win again, because they were not friendly,” bystander Mahendra Pal said.
Twenty-eight-year-old Ankit Yadav from Maikua Kheda village of Sikandarpur Karan block in Unnao district adjoining the state capital Lucknow is contesting panchayat elections this time. “If one wants to contest elections, one has to meet people with love and hear them out. If someone does not have a ration card, I apply for it online with my money. I help people with their withheld pensions. Only such things will help build confidence that I can work for them,” he told Gaon Connection.
In Bichhiya development block of Unnao, Rishiram Sharma’s family of seven lives beneath a house with a thatch-roof. “All these years, we were invisible. Suddenly, everyone realises we do not have a proper house. That’s when I realised that panchayat elections are drawing close,” he said, wryly.
Jokes apart, the abject lack of awareness among villagers about their rights, worries Chandrashekhar Pran, who has been running Teesri Sarkar, an awareness campaign, in panchayats over the work and responsibilities of gram panchayats for the past several years. “In a gram panchayat, the right to decide is with the villagers, the pradhan only implements that. So, voters should choose a hardworking pradhan. Villagers reserve the right to remove a pradhan, so voters should steer clear of casteist trappings,” he told Gaon Connection.
Amid all the high-decibel action, there is a voice of sanity too. Dilip Tripathi, the pradhan of Hasudi Ausan gram panchayat in Siddharthnagar district and three-times recipient of the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Panchayat Empowerment Award and two-time recipient of the Nanaji Deshmukh National Gaurav Gram Pradhan Award, told Gaon Connection that fresh elections or not, he has to complete his work. “I am only worried about completing the remaining development works in my gram panchayat. Corona has stalled work. Elections can happen whey they do.”
With inputs from Virendra Singh from Barabanki, Ram Ji Mishra from Shahjahanpur, Sumit Yadav from Unnao and Mohit Shukla from Sitapur.
