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In a historic verdict, the State Election Commission on Saturday disqualified all the elected civic members of Varandrappilly grama panchayat in Thrissur and Kuruvathur grama panchayat in Kozhikode, from becoming the members of the panchayats and contesting again for six years.
The decision was taken after the members failed to convene the grama sabhas once in three months.
The state election commissioner took the decision based on the complaints filed by the voters against the panchayat members. In the separate petitions, they pointed out the elected members had consecutively failed to convene grama sabha meetings in their respective wards within the stipulated time period. As per the Panchayat Raj Act, the gram sabha shall meet at least once in three months.
According to the decision taken by the Election Commission under Section 35 B of the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act, the members have rendered themselves liable to be disqualified on the ground that they failed consecutively to convene grama sabha meetings at least once in three months.
This is the first time in the state that the election commission disqualified all the elected members of two grama panchyats for not convening the grama sabha once in three months, said advocate Nalanchira P Krishnan Kutti, who appeared on behalf of the petitioners.
“It is a fact that we couldn’t convene grama sabhas during the past Assembly election period owing to the model code of conduct. We had sent a letter to the panchayat secretary pointing out the practical difficulty in convening the grama sabhas during the election time, but he failed to note the matter in the panchayat minutes,” said Ibrahim Chakkungal, vice-president of Varandrappilly panchayat.
The disqualified members also said they would approach the High Court against the verdict.
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