E-Paper
Panchayat poll banned in Mohali’s Jagatpura village
Acting on a native villager’s complaint regarding inclusion of votes of migrants residing in unauthorised Guru Nanak Colony, state election commissioner directs revision of voter list
Punjab state election commissioner Raj Kamal Chaudhary has imposed a ban on holding panchayat elections in Jagatpura village, near Phase 11, following a complaint by a villager regarding inclusion of votes of migrants residing illegally in the adjacent Guru Nanak Colony.
The elections were scheduled on October 15.
Interestingly, the migrants in Guru Nanak Colony make up 5,536 votes, while the native residents have only 900 votes.
The election commissioner, in his orders to the district election officer, directed the removal of the votes from Guru Nanak Colony, which were included in Jagatpura’s voter list, before conducting the panchayat elections. The migrants in Guru Nanak Colony are residing in temporary hutments on government land, which is deemed illegal.
Mohali deputy commissioner Aashika Jain, following the directives of the state election commissioner, wrote to the Mohali SDM, instructing the immediate cancellation of Jagatpura’s panchayat election.
Kuldeep Singh Dhanoa, former panch of Jagatpura, had filed a petition through his lawyer DK Saldi with the election commissioner. He raised an objection regarding the inclusion of over 5,000 votes from Guru Nanak Colony in the village’s voter list.
A complaint was also previously lodged by him with the SDM and deputy commissioner, requesting the exclusion of these votes. However, he alleged, the district administration ignored the complaint and included the votes of migrants, numbered at over 5,000, in the final voter list.
With only about 900 votes belonging to the native residents of the village, it had become apparent that the entire panchayat would be elected from the migrant labourers’ colony, his complaint added.
Five candidates from the colony even filed their nominations for the position of sarpanch. The petitioner argued that the colony was established on GMADA land and had no connection with the village. The residents of the colony don’t cast their votes for the Mohali municipal corporation and, to date, the colony residents have never voted in the village panchayat elections.
He also argued that when these colonies were established by GMADA in 2005, the village residents were assured that these colonies would have no connection with the village panchayat. Agreeing with the petitioner’s argument, the election commissioner ordered the cancellation of the election and directed that the names of the colony residents be removed from the voter list, with fresh elections to be conducted thereafter.
Colony relocated from Phase 10 in 2005
After acquiring about 9 acres from the revenue estate of Jagatpura village, GMADA in 2005 resettled the unauthorised residential colony from Phase 10 by relocating its residents to this land, which came to be known as Guru Nanak Colony, primarily housing temporary hutments.
Following objections raised by Jagatpura residents regarding their resettlement in their vicinity, an agreement was reached between GMADA and Jagatpura gram panchayat, stipulating that GMADA would erect a 7-foot-high wall around the 7-acre plot housing the resettled inhabitants and also provide a separate passage to minimise interaction with local villagers. Meanwhile, the civic body provided water connections and electricity supply to the residents of Guru Nanak Colony.
In 2023, colony residents submitted an application before the Punjab State Human Rights Commission (PSHRC), stating that since the colony was not under any ward of the civic body, they were being denied various civic amenities and facilities.
They requested necessary directions to be issued, following which PSHRC directed the deputy commissioner to address the complaint according to law. Subsequently, last year, in October, the DC included the residents in the voter list of Jagatpura gram panchayat. The residents even participated in the Lok Sabha elections held this year.
