Three-tier rural poll, or we move court, says Gurung

Deep Gazmer, TNN, May 1, 2014, DARJEELING: Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) president Bimal Gurung on Wednesday said the party would move court if the state government did not hold elections to a three-tier panchayat system in the Hills.

The party has been demanding a three-tier system in the Hills, which currently has a two-tier system comprising gram panchayat and panchayat samiti.

Even the panchayat has been dysfunctional since 2005 and is now being run by a board of administrators.

On the sidelines of a party meeting at Malidhura below Singamari in Darjeeling held to take stock of the post-poll scenario, Bimal Gurung said, "I fear that the state government will announce the panchayat election immediately after the counting on May 16. I have no problem with the election, but it must be a three-tier system. If it happens otherwise, we will knock the court doors".

The GTA agreement, which was signed by the state, the Centre and the GJM in 2011, has provisions for implementing a three-tier panchayat system in the Hills. It also wants reorganization of the existing eight Hills block and 112 gram panchayats for better functioning.

The two-tier system in the Hills came into being after the formation of the now-defunct Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) in 1988 under the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) led by Subash Ghisingh. But Ghisingh apparently did not allow the panchayat election to be held as he had raised the issue of putting the Hills under the Sixth Schedule to which a memorandum of understanding was also signed between the state, the Centre and the GNLF in December 2006.

On the possibility of a tussle cropping up between the existing Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) and a three-tier panchayat system, the GJM president said: "We have no problems with a parallel set-up. Our demand for a three-tier panchayat system, as per the tripartite council agreement, remains." The sub-division of Siliguri, which is under Darjeeling district, has a zilla parishad.

After the polls in North Bengal, the GJM president will campaign for ally BJP to woo Nepali voters in Haryana, Dehradun, Uttarakhand and Haridwar. "Our party president will lead a delegation tomorrow (Thursday) to campaign for BJP candidates in states where there is a sizeable Nepali population. The BJP has fielded Malarajya Laxmi Saha, a Nepali candidate, In Tehiri, Uttarakhand," said GJM assistant secretary Binay Tamang, who will accompany Gurung along with Kalimpong MLA Harka Bahadur Chhetri and central committee members Raju Pradhan and Diwakar Gurung.

The GJM assistant secretary said Wednesday's meeting with party leaders and frontal organizations was to review the polls. Tamang said a decision was also taken to restructure and reorganize the party to strengthen base in the run-up to the possible panchayat election.