CHANDIGARH:In a first, candidates in the upcoming Assembly polls in Haryana are being asked to take a pledge to work for the people in villages with panchayats in Jind district coming up with Shapat Patras (oath form) for them.
In a meeting held this week, around 50 sarpanch (Panchayat heads) met and decided that when candidates of different political parties visit the villages, the Panchayat and the villagers will inform the concerned candidate about the Shapat Patra. There are five Assembly seats in this district—Julana, Jind, Safido, Uchana and Narwana.
“We are now contacting all Panchayat heads over phone or meeting them individually. There are around 300 villages in our district and we will distribute the Shapat Patra so that they can implement the same. Most of them are convinced about this idea and are eager to participate,” said Subash, Sarpanch of Jalalpur.
According to the minutes of the meeting, when candidates visit villages asking for votes they would be taken to a place where the Shapat Patra listing the demands of the villagers would be engraved on a stone and the candidates would require to furnish a concrete reply. There would be around 10 demands and if villagers are convinced by the reply of the person concerned, only then would they vote for the candidate or else they would reject him or her.
“In the Assembly elections, if the candidates aim to win votes they will have to convince the rural voters that they will work to make villages at par with cities or towns by making sure that same facilities are provided to us as given to urban population. For that they will have to give us a concrete plan and not just false hopes as netas (political leaders) generally do during elections. Their plan should also specifically mention the departments that will undertake development projects and how they will source funds to complete their work,” said Sunil Jaglan, the Panchayat head of Bibipur.
“They will have to convince us how they plan to provide better health facilities, education for girls, free bus service for girls, vocational courses, development of village under various government sanctioned schemes, improving connectivity by developing link roads, checking depletion of ground water, developing water and sewerage system and a few other demands that had been raised by us,” said Jaglan.