Darjeeling: Elections to the four hill municipalities will be held on December 11, more than two years after polls could not be held following stiff resistance from the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and nobody coming forward to file nominations.
So long, Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Kurseong and Mirik municipalities had been run by a board of administrators.
District magistrate Saumitra Mohan said: “We have received a notification from the state government and elections to all the four hill municipalities will be held on December 11.” The schedule for the election has, however, not been finalised but is expected in a day or two.
The elections to the municipalities were scheduled for June 28, 2009 last time. But following opposition from the Morcha which demanded that the state government first implement a three-tier panchayat system in the hills, nobody filed nominations.
The Darjeeling municipality was set up in 1850 and is the second oldest in Bengal with 32 wards. Kalimpong has 23 wards followed by 20 wards in Kurseong and nine in Mirik.
Since July 14, 2009, a day after the five-year term of the hill municipalities came to an end, the civic bodies have been run by a board of administrators with the SDOs of the respective subdivisions as chairpersons of the board.
After the memorandum of agreement was signed between the Centre, the state government and the Morcha on July 18 this year to set up the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, provisions were included to ensure that the three- tier panchyat system was brought back in the hills.
Following the insertion of the clause, the Morcha is now eager to hold the municipal elections. The state government has, however, made it clear that the three-tier panchayat system would be in place only after the GTA is implemented. The Morcha, too, had agreed to the state government proposal.
This time too the Constitution has to be amended. It was amended once in 1992, soon after the DGHC was formed. The amendment was necessitated to implement a two-tier rural system for the Darjeeling hills since no two zilla parishads — the highest rung in the panchayati system — could exist in one district. So while the plains of the Darjeeling district had a Mahakuma Parishad (equivalent to the zilla parishad), the hills had a two-tier system without the zilla parishad.
This clause will now have to be amended to put in bring back the three-tier panchayat system in the hills.
Source: The Telegraph
So long, Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Kurseong and Mirik municipalities had been run by a board of administrators.
District magistrate Saumitra Mohan said: “We have received a notification from the state government and elections to all the four hill municipalities will be held on December 11.” The schedule for the election has, however, not been finalised but is expected in a day or two.
The elections to the municipalities were scheduled for June 28, 2009 last time. But following opposition from the Morcha which demanded that the state government first implement a three-tier panchayat system in the hills, nobody filed nominations.
The Darjeeling municipality was set up in 1850 and is the second oldest in Bengal with 32 wards. Kalimpong has 23 wards followed by 20 wards in Kurseong and nine in Mirik.
Since July 14, 2009, a day after the five-year term of the hill municipalities came to an end, the civic bodies have been run by a board of administrators with the SDOs of the respective subdivisions as chairpersons of the board.
After the memorandum of agreement was signed between the Centre, the state government and the Morcha on July 18 this year to set up the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, provisions were included to ensure that the three- tier panchyat system was brought back in the hills.
Following the insertion of the clause, the Morcha is now eager to hold the municipal elections. The state government has, however, made it clear that the three-tier panchayat system would be in place only after the GTA is implemented. The Morcha, too, had agreed to the state government proposal.
This time too the Constitution has to be amended. It was amended once in 1992, soon after the DGHC was formed. The amendment was necessitated to implement a two-tier rural system for the Darjeeling hills since no two zilla parishads — the highest rung in the panchayati system — could exist in one district. So while the plains of the Darjeeling district had a Mahakuma Parishad (equivalent to the zilla parishad), the hills had a two-tier system without the zilla parishad.
This clause will now have to be amended to put in bring back the three-tier panchayat system in the hills.
Source: The Telegraph
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