Dalits scared to contest,SC seat becomes General

With none of the Dalit residents of the Thakur-dominated Malasa village mustering enough courage to contest elections for the gram pradhans post....

With none of the Dalit residents of the Thakur-dominated Malasa village mustering enough courage to contest elections for the gram pradhans post,the district administration of Ramabai Nagar has now included the seat under the General category.

In August 2005,Malasa gram pradhan seat was reserved for SCs. In the same year,bypolls for the seat were held on seven occasions but neither the assurance from the local police nor that of the district authorities could motivate the Dalits to contest the polls. All the 15 gram panchayat seats of Malasa also remained vacant as none from the other communities contested the election in protest

against the reservation of the top post for SCs.

District Magistrate Saroj Kumar Tiwari said: As per the guidelines issued by the Department of Panchayati Raj,we carried out a survey of all 613 gram pradhan seats of the district and thereafter the category of each seat was finalised. Caste-wise population in the descending order and rotational system of reservation were the two major criteria for assigning the categories. He said now the seat is under General category.

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The categories of all 613 gram pradhan seats of Ramabai Nagar were announced on Tuesday evening. The local residents have been asked to file their objections,if any,on any gram pradhan seat till August 17. After checking all the objections,we will declare the final list on August 19, he added.

Malasa has nearly 3,000 voters,out of which 134 are Dalits. Thakurs form the majority of the vote bank,followed by the Brahmins.

Owing to the dominance of Thakurs,none of the Dalits turned up to file their nomination papers in the August 2005 elections. In June 2008 bypolls,two Dalits,Chandrika Prasad and Lallai,decided to contest the polls. Chandrika filed his nomination but withdrew his paper,reportedly fearing backlash of the upper caste. Lallai could not find anyone to propose his candidature. Since then not a single nomination paper has been filed for the seat.

Reluctant to comment over the issue,Chandrika said: There was a strong resentment from my family,therefore I decided not to contest the elections. He said being illiterate he was unfit for the post. Lallais wife Umakanti and daughter Meera refused to support his decision. Lallai said: My family members were against the decision,there was no point contesting the elections.

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The Thakurs,however,deny pressurising the Dalits. Rani Devi,a Thakur who had won the seat in the 2000 elections,claimed: The entire village was transformed into a police fortress during the bypolls and it was not possible for the Thakurs or Brahmins to prevent any Dalit from filing nomination papers, she added.

Another Thakur resident of the village,Nathi Singh,said: On several occasions,we tried to motivate them but they were hesitant to contest the elections. Singh appreciated the move of the district authorities to place the seat under General category.