By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, July 9: A delegation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Assam, today called on Assam Governor JB Patnaik and submitted a memorandum to him regarding the reservation of seats in the panchayats.

The delegation included BJP national vice-president Bijoya Chakraborty, BJP Panchayat Election Management Committee chairman Narayan Chandra Borkataky, BJP State vice-president CK Das, BJP State general secretary Dr Pradip Thakuria, BJP MLAs Manoranjan Das and Jadav Chandra Deka and BJP Panchayat Management Committee convenor Dilip Saikia.

Bijoya Chakraborty later said, “There is a provision in the Assam Panchayat Act, 1994 for reservation of seats in panchayats for women, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates. The reservation of seats on rotation basis is generally done a short period before the nomination papers are filed. This leaves many potential candidates and political parties with insufficient time for selection of right constituencies and candidates. Hence, in our opinion the reserved panchayat seats must be declared at least six months before the date of filing nomination papers. We have sought the Governor’s intervention in this regard.”

“Also, there are talks of amending the Assam Panchayat Act, 1994 to make the provision for selection of the president of gaon panchayat by the ward members of the panchayat instead of direct election of the gaon panchayat president by the voters of the gaon panchayat. We are of the opinion that the existing provision must not be changed for the smooth functioning of gaon panchayats for rural development,” said Chakraborty.

The BJP leader further said, “The BJP opposes the State Government’s decision to impose five per cent VAT on sugar and textiles. In times like these when floods have ravaged most parts of the State, imposing five per cent VAT on sugar and textiles will be an added burden on the people and hence the government should withdraw the tax immediately.”