Chandigarh: Barely a fortnight before the Panchayat elections in Punjab, the positions of sarpanch are being “sold” by villagers collectively to the highest bidder, with the bid amounts touching crores.

Multiple cases of auctions of the position of sarpanch have come to the fore from villages in Gurdaspur, Muktsar and Bathinda, where the winning bidder will be declared as unanimously chosen to the position, with elections to the post of sarpanch not taking place in these villages. Villagers claim that the bid amount would go towards the development of their respective villages.

In Hardowal Kalan in Gurdaspur, Atma Singh of the BJP bid a staggering Rs 2 crore for the sarpanch position Monday, outbidding two other contenders. Gurdaspur BJP leader Vijay Soni met Atma Singh later the same day to congratulate him.

In Kot Bhara village in Bathinda, Manpreet Singh “bought” the position, bidding Rs 30 lakh. In another Bathinda village, Gehri Buttar, the highest bidder, Bikar Singh, offered Rs 60 lakh, and Navjot Singh offered Rs 50 lakh. Villagers, in this case, could not come to a decision unanimously. More reports of the auctioning of positions have come from the Sukhladhi village in the same district and from villages in the Muktsar district.

Taking cognisance of these reports, the state election commissioner Tuesday asked the deputy commissioners to submit detailed reports of such auctions to him in the next 24 hours.

In a press statement issued Tuesday evening, Punjab State Election Commissioner Raj Kamal Chaudhuri said that to examine the legal and ethical outcomes of such a process within the larger democratic traditions, it has become incumbent on the state election commission to take a balanced view.

The last date for filing nomination papers for the Panchayat elections in Punjab is 4 October, with their scrutiny to follow on 5 October. The final date for withdrawal of nominations is 7 October.

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‘Undermines the democratic process’

In the Hardowal village, where the bid amount broke records, the auction was announced Sunday in the village gurdwara. Kicked off with a Rs 50 lakh offer, the auction finally reached Rs 2 crore with Atma Singh’s offer. Jaswinder Singh Bedi had offered Rs 1 crore for the position.

Atma Singh said he would sell some acres of his land and pay for the bid through a cheque. He promised to deposit the money in a common account for the village and use it for development purposes under the guidance of a village committee.

The villagers, who had gathered for the bidding, told media persons that theirs was one of the most prominent villages of Gurdaspur and Rs 2 crore was a fair bid for the sarpanch position.

“This village is the topmost village of Gurdaspur. It is over 300 acres, and it is a matter of honour for me to be the sarpanch of this village. Also, my father was the sarpanch of this village, and I will be carrying his legacy forward,” said Atma Singh to media persons.

When questioned about one of their leaders buying the sarpanch position, senior BJP leader Vijay Rupani, the in-charge of the party’s affairs in Punjab, said Monday that he did not know anything about the auctions.

On Sunday, villagers gathered and conducted the auction proceedings at the Kothe Chandian Wala village in Muktsar. The sarpanch position was sold for Rs 35 lakh to Jasmel Singh alias Amrik, who told the media that he would be carrying out development works in the village with the amount, which, he said, would come from his pocket.

The villagers said he promised to spend Rs 35.5 lakh on the village. A video of the auction proceedings has gone viral since then.

On Tuesday, Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema, with the ruling Aam Aadmi Party government, met Raj Kamal Chaudhary. Singh handed over a representation, seeking action against the wave of auctions for the sarpanch position.

Cheema called the auctions illicit. “This unethical practice undermines the democratic process and compromises the integrity of the elections,” said Cheema in his representation.

Reacting to Cheema’s visit to the state election commissioner, Shiromani Akali Dal spokesperson Arshdeep Kler issued a video message Tuesday, saying it was strange that the party in power in Punjab was complaining to the state election commissioner against the auctions. Cheema “should remember that he is the state finance minister — the number two in the government — and it is the responsibility of the Aam Aadmi Aadmi party government in the state to conduct fair and free elections,” he said.

PTI reported that the state’s Leader of the Opposition, Partap Singh Bajwa from the Congress, condemned the auctions, calling them “open corruption.” “This is wrong. I want to ask the vigilance bureau to take action against whoever offers Rs 2 crore,” said Bajwa, adding, “There is no precedent for such a bidding process.”

A public interest litigation in the matter has been filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. A division bench, headed by the Chief Justice Sheel Nagu, would hear the case on 3 October.

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More than one issue ahead of panchayat polls

The Opposition is up in arms against the AAP government not only for failing to curb the open auction but also for inadequate arrangements for the elections.

Senior Congress leader and Gurdaspur MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, along with LoP Pratap Singh Bajwa and former Congress minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, had a showdown in the office of the deputy commissioner of Gurdaspur Tuesday. The trio had reached the DC office to complain about the shortage of block development panchayat offices (BDPO) and panchayat secretaries.

Talking to the media later, Bajwa said there is only one panchayat secretary for receiving the nomination papers for the elections for nearly 80 villages in the district. “I, along with other leaders, met the deputy commissioner over the matter, but he misbehaved with one of our leaders,” said Bajwa.

In another incident, former Congress MLA Kulbir Singh Zira was injured in a violent skirmish among the supporters of the Congress and the AAP in the office of the BDPO in Ferozepur on Tuesday. A video of an AAP leader firing bullets in the air outside the BDPO office has also gone viral.

Angry scenes also broke out outside the office of the BDPO in Patiala on Tuesday when contenders filing nomination papers claimed that the BDPO’s conduct was unfair.As many as 784 nominations for the sarpanch position and 1,446 nominations for the panch position had been received by returning officers by Monday evening.

(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)

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