BHOPAL: Believe it or not, but a village in Madhya Pradesh has reportedly auctioned the post of its gram sarpanch (village head) for Rs 44 lakh.
While the MP State Election Commission prepares for holding the panchayat polls across the state in January and February 2022, the Bhatauli village in the central Indian state’s Ashok Nagar district has auctioned the post of sarpanch.
While backing the new practice, the village elders have held that it will ensure that there is no tension among various candidates for the post and neither there is use of illicit liquor or illegal money to win the votes of the villagers in the ensuing panchayat polls early next year.
The open auction/bidding which happened recently at the main temple of the village, opened with a minimum bid of Rs 21 lakh and went up to Rs 43 lakh, before the highest bidder Saubhag Yadav, was awarded the sarpanch’s post, after bidding Rs 44 lakh.
The villagers welcomed Yadav with garland and unanimously resolved that he is their new village sarpanch and no one, except him, will file nominations for the sarpanch post in the upcoming gram panchayat poll to ensure that he is elected unopposed.
The villagers, however, attached a condition, announcing that if Yadav fails to deposit the Rs 44 lakh bid quoted by him soon, then the second-highest bidder will be the sole candidate to file the nomination in the coming panchayat polls.
While confirming the development, Yadav, who was declared village sarpanch after the auction process at the temple, said, “Entire money will be deposited in the temple and subsequently used for the village’s development. I have taken a vow to work for the village and there is no better place than a temple for making such a vow,” Yadav said.
The local administration, however, has made it clear that such a process isn’t valid and cannot be recognized.
“Anyone can contest the village sarpanch poll nomination. Anyone can fill the nomination form and all those whose forms are found valid during the process of scrutiny will be eligible to contest the poll. The highest bidder in the reported auction at the temple is also eligible to contest the poll, provided his form is found valid,” a local administrative official said.
The State Election Commission has decided to hold the next panchayat polls in the state in three phases in January and February 2022.