Nine gram panchayat, one panchayat samiti candidates of BGPM win uncontested in Kalimpong

YOWAN MOTHAY, EOI, KALIMPONG, JUNE 16, 2023 : As many as 1124 candidates have submitted their nominations for Panchayat elections in Kalimpong district, among them 254 candidates for panchayat samiti seats and 871 candidates for gram Panchayat seats. 

In the Kalimpong district, nine  gram panchayat candidates and one panchayat samiti candidate belonging to the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha have already won uncontested, party vice president Ruden Lepcha said on Friday. 

Villagers in the Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts are excited with the announcement of panchayat elections in the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration area, with the rural polls going to be held in the hills after two decades. 

Development in the villages has suffered due to the absence of elected panchayats. Even today, many of the villages and settlements in the hills are deprived of basic facilities.

Kalimpong News Ed: In the four blocks of Kalimpong district, Kalimpong I, Lava, Pedong and Gorubathan there are 42 gram panchayats and 4 panchayat samities.

There are 281 seats in 260 Sansads of gram panchayats while 76 seats in 76 sansads of panchayat samities.

The number of polling stations in the districts is 263, of them 114 are in Kalimpong I, 29 are in Lava, 52 in Pedong and 68 in Gorubathan blocks/ panchayat samities. The district has 179,932 voters in the panchayat area under the four block divisions..