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GUWAHATI, JUNE 9: Serious horse-trading charges have come to the light in the Alomganj Gaon Panchayat in Dhubri district, Assam, with newly elected ward members said to be being concealed and being given ₹7 to ₹10 lakh each in an attempt to influence the upcoming panchayat presidential election. The charges have evoked public fury and demands of prompt action from Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Panchayat and Rural Development Minister Ranjit Kumar Dass.
At the heart of the controversy are Salami Sangma, or Salami Bibi, who is a former panchayat president, and her husband, Abu Sattar Ali. They are alleged to have hatched the conspiracy of bribing the newly elected members of wards by detaining them, reportedly to secure votes for a particular candidate in the contest to become panchayat president.
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The reported plan to “buy” the members and rig the leadership election follows on concerns about previous irregularities during Salami Sangma’s term, particularly in the road development projects. The entry of such big money has heightened concerns of corruption in the panchayat’s development programmes in the future.
These changes are a follow-up to recent changes in the Panchayat Act, aimed at increasing transparency and giving free will to independent candidates through the possibility of election without symbols. The elected members, according to the new changes, may elect their president democratically. The tactics carried out in Alomganj, where candidates are said to turn to money inducements, are against the very purpose of such reforms.
The incident has evoked the ire of citizens at large, who are calling for an investigation into the reported malpractice. They emphasize the need to uphold the democratic character of grass-root institutions and ensure the integrity of public money and administration is not compromised and corruption and coercion have no place there.
