10,031 sarpanches to take oath at mega ceremony in Ludhiana; Kejriwal to attend

Chandigarh, Nov 8 (IANS) Tens of thousands of people will participate on Friday in the oath-taking ceremony of newly-elected 10,031 sarpanches of 19 districts of Punjab in the presence of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in Ludhiana.

There will be a massive gathering at the function that the AAP government claims will be to strengthen democracy at the grassroots, as panchayats are known as the ‘pillars of democracy’.

The stage is all set for one of the biggest celebrations of democracy in the state as Chief Minister Mann will administer oath of office to the newly-elected sarpanches at a function to be held in Cycle valley in Dhanansu in Ludhiana.

This is the first-of-its-kind function by the state government in which former Delhi CM Kejriwal will be the chief guest.

In the recently-concluded polls, 13,147 sarpanches of gram panchayats, the village-level third tier of governance, have been elected in 23 districts, out of which the newly-elected 10,031 sarpanches of 19 districts will be administered oath.

The oath taking ceremony of other elected sarpanches of remaining four districts -- Muktsar Sahib, Hoshiarpur, Barnala and Gurdaspur -- and of 81,808 newly-elected panches of 23 districts will be held after the bye-elections of four Vidhan Sabha constituencies -- Giddarbaha, Chabewal, Barnala and Dera Baba Nanak.

The government has set a new benchmark of conducting free, fair and transparent polls for the recently-concluded panchayats elections, which were contested by the candidates without party symbols.

The government said it took this path-breaking decision to debar the candidates from contesting elections on party symbols in larger public interest.

This historic move of the state government was aimed at removing groupism in the villages, thereby ensuring holistic development of the rural areas.

Through this initiative the government intends to strengthen the Panchayati Raj institutions -- up from the village-level third tier of governance -- thereby giving a major push to the development of villages.

In another significant move during the run-up for polls, the Chief Minister had urged the people to rise above parochial considerations and elect their sarpanches unanimously to strengthen ethos of harmony and brotherhood in villages on one hand and ensure their comprehensive development on the other.

An official statement quoting the Chief Minister said the government has made elaborate arrangements for making the oath-taking event a huge success as thousands of people are expected to attend this event.

He said that no stone has been left unturned for facilitating the people, adding a proper mechanism has been evolved to ensure that people do not face any sort of inconvenience.

CM Mann said right from traffic diversion, parking of vehicles and other facilities, the officers have been directed to ensure foolproof arrangements for this mega event.

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