Karnataka: GP members resign after Muslim man elected as president
A section of members of a taluk in Raichur district resigned after a Muslim member was elected president officials said on Monday.
Mysuru
A large number of gram panchayat members of a taluk in Raichur district resigned after a Muslim member was elected as its president, officials have said. The members alleged that the post of the president should have been reserved for the general category or the OBCs.
Members of the R H Camp-1 gram panchayat in Sindhanur taluk resigned on Monday after a Muslim member, Rehman Pasha was elected as the president of the local body in the election held on August 3.
The president’s post in the gram panchayat is reserved for the general category every two terms. The last time a member from the general category was elected president was in 2008.
This term the post of the president was reserved for the general category. The members who resigned said that they were angry that the reservation for the general category had been given away. They also alleged that some people had reluctantly participated in the president’s election held on August 3 due to political pressure. They have demanded the cancellation of the election and urged for a re-election.
Although there are reports that say a total 19 members have resigned, Rehamat Pasha, president of gram panchayat said,“The number of resigned members is 15, and not 19 as published in the media.”
Of the 38 members of the gram panchayat, 30 members belong to OBCs and other castes. Seven members are from SC-ST and only one is from the Muslim community. The other community said that one among them should have been elected as president.
Pasha said there is no discrimination among Hindus and Muslims in the panchayat, adding that all the members are living in harmony and striving for development. “I have spoken to the members who resigned from their posts and persuaded them to take back the resignation. All the members will take back their resignations on Thursday and there is no commotion now,” he said, adding that if the GP members do not withdraw their resignations in 15 days, he would move the matter to the taluk panchayat executive officer for further action.
However, GP member Pradeep Kumar, who lost the election has alleged, “Nineteen members have the support of the BJP and the JD(S) in the panchayat, but the Congress has 17 members’ support, and a Congress backed member was elected as president through cross-voting. There is no communal angle in this. All the members are working together and they have opposed the president not because he is a Muslim, but since he managed to win through cross -voting.”
