Karnataka State Election Commission begins preparations for gram panchayat polls
Bengaluru: The Karnataka State Election Commission (SEC), in coordination with the state government, has begun preparations for the upcoming gram panchayat (GP) elections, as the five-year terms of over 5,700 gram panchayats are set to expire between December 2025 and January 2026.
Arundati Chandrashekar, Commissioner of the Karnataka Panchayat Raj Commissionerate, has directed the CEOs of all 31 zilla panchayats to submit detailed lists of gram panchayats whose terms are concluding. The deadline for submitting this data to the panchayat raj commissionerate is October 24, according to a letter cited by The Times of India on Tuesday.
The directive follows a communication from the SEC requesting information on gram panchayats with expiring terms, including member details, reservation specifics for women and various categories, and other relevant electoral data. Zilla panchayats have been given 15 days to compile and forward this information to assist the SEC in updating electoral rolls and scheduling the polls.
G.S. Sangreshi, SEC commissioner, said that the SEC had written to the government regarding the conduct of GP elections and was awaiting a response. "We expect a reply to initiate further proceedings. We will plan based on the govt's reply," TOI quoted Sangreshi as saying.
Meanwhile, some Members of the Legislative Council (MLCs) elected from local bodies had proposed allowing candidates to contest GP elections using party symbols. However, the proposal was rejected by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in September, who described it as a “bad idea” that could encourage political groupism and disrupt village-level harmony.
Officials quoted in the report confirmed that candidates will continue to contest using their own unique symbols on the ballot paper, and the use of symbols affiliated with any recognised political party will be prohibited in the gram panchayat polls.
The last GP elections in Karnataka were held in December 2020 in two phases, covering nearly 93,000 wards across more than 5,700 gram panchayats.
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Unemployed 'youngsters like cockroaches' become media, activists; attack system: CJI
New Delhi (PTI): Likening some unemployed youngsters to cockroaches, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant on Friday said they go on to "become" media, social media and RTI activists and start attacking the system.
The comments came while a bench of CJI Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was pulling up a lawyer for "pursuing" a senior advocate designation. It said there were already "parasites" in society who attack the system and asked the petitioner whether he wanted to join hands with them.
"The entire world may be eligible to become senior (advocate), but at least you are not entitled," the bench told the petitioner lawyer.
A visibly anguished CJI observed that if the Delhi High Court would confer senior advocate designation upon the petitioner, the apex court would set that aside seeing his professional conduct.
The CJI also referred to the kind of language used by the petitioner on Facebook.
"There are already parasites of society who attack the system and you want to join hands with them?" he said.
"There are youngsters like cockroaches, who don't get any employment or have any place in profession. Some of them become media, some of them become social media, RTI activists and other activists and they start attacking everyone," he said.
The bench also asked the petitioner whether he did not have any other litigation.
"Is this the conduct of a person who seeks to be designated as a senior advocate?" the bench asked.
It said senior advocate designation is something that is conferred on a person and is not to be pursued.
"You are pursuing it. Does it look proper?" the top court said, asking whether a senior advocate designation was a status symbol to be kept ornamentally.
It also observed that it wanted to ask the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to verify the degrees of many of those who were wearing black robes as there were serious doubts over the genuineness of their degrees.
It said the Bar Council of India would never do anything on this issue as they "need their votes".
The petitioner apologised to the bench and sought permission to withdraw the petition. The bench allowed the withdrawal of the petition.
