Assam cabinet approves amendment for EVMs in panchayat polls

The amendment will also fix a minimum educational qualification of matriculation for gaon panchayat members and higher secondary passes candidates for anchalik and zilla parishad members.

The Assam cabinet has approved the amendment of certain provisions of Assam Panchayat Act to introduce electronic voting machines (EVMs) in panchayat elections and disqualify elected representatives for violating legal age of marriage, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said here.

The amended provisions will include constitution of a district delimitation commission to decide the size of the constituencies for zilla parishad, anchalik parishads and gaon panchayats, Sarma said here on Friday night.

The categorisation of the districts will be on the basis of population and the gaon panchayats will also be reorganised accordingly, he said.

The amendment will also fix a minimum educational qualification of matriculation for gaon panchayat members and pass the higher secondary for anchalik and zilla parishad members. Scheduled castes, tribes and backward caste members will be required to pass the matriculation examination.

''EVMs will be introduced in panchayat polls. Panchayat elected representatives, if found to have violated the legal marriage age will be disqualified and members of political parties are also liable to be disqualified under the anti-defection law," Sarma said.

The district delimitation commission will comprise the district commissioner as its chairperson, the chief executive officer of the zilla parishad as the member secretary and the election officer as member, the chief minister said.

Political symbols for elections will be introduced for zilla parishad and anchalik parishads and there will be no party symbols for candidates for gaon panchayat poll, he said.

The president of gaon panchayat will be elected from among the 10 gram panchayat members and a no-confidence motion cannot be initiated for the first two and half years of the term of the president and vice president.

The audit of zilla parishad accounts will be done by the Assam accountant general and members may be allotted some departments for monitoring and supervision, he said.

The zilla parishad president will nominate members to supervise and monitor the progress of activities of different departments at the district level as decided by the government, Sarma added.

The state level recruitment commission will conduct the Grade III and Grade IV recruitments in the Panchayat, he added.