Kalimpong Krishak Kalyan Sangathan (KKKS), an organization working for the welfare of farmers, has claimed that it has received a letter from the Chairman of the ‘Petition Committee’ of the Rajya Sabha, Prabhat Jha, which states that the panel has also written to the Home Minister and the Chief Secretary of West Bengal to take steps to conduct panchayat elections in the Hills as soon as possible.
The rural elections have not been held in the Darjeeling Hills for the past 18 years, which, according to the organization, is a violation of the Indian Constitution.
“Panchayat elections are being held in every part of India, including Siliguri in the plains here, but Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong have been left out,” the general secretary of the KKKS, Bishnu Chettri, said.
According to him, his organization has been raising the issue of rural elections and has “informed, approached and appealed” to the state government, but to no avail. “Later in 2015, we filed a case in the Calcutta High Court and the Court in return released an order to hold three-tier panchayat elections in 2016, to which the Government of West Bengal had submitted a written undertaking to the court,” Mr Chettri said.
“In February 2017, Kalimpong was declared a district, which further complicated the demand for ‘twotier’ elections. However, on November 2017, the organization filed a re-petition in the court, demanding the ‘amendment of the constitution’ and holding three-tier Zilla Parishad elections by combining both Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts,” he added.
According to him, they also sent letters to India’s Law Minister, the Home Minister and a few other ministers regarding the issue, “because when the DGHC (Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council) was formed, the Panchayat Act was amended, giving priority to two-tier elections, while and Zilla Parishad’s position was given to the erstwhile DGHC, but hopes of the elections being held faded after the 2007 and 2011 agitation, and the signing of the GTA (Gorkhaland Territorial Administration) agreement.
Meanwhile, on 29 January this year, with help from a Member of Parliament of the Rajya Sabha, the KKKS again filed a petition in the Petition Committee of the Upper House.
“There, we questioned why elections were not held for 18 long years. We also focused on two important things—Zilla Parishad Elections combining Darjeeling and Kalimpong, and An Amendment to the Constitution,” Mr Chettri said.
“I have a belief that a twotier election will be conducted in 2018 along with panchayat elections elsewhere in the state,” he added.