Maharashtra Guv, MVA govt on fight path over sarpanch polls

Mumbai: Maharashtra Governor BS Koshyari is engaged in a tussle with the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government over scrapping of direct election of sarpanches (village heads) in the state. The state legislature had cleared the bill on Febuary 25 which still awaits Governor’s approval.

Koshyari, a veteran RSS and BJP leader from Uttarakhand, was appointed Governor in September 2019 when the state was ruled by the BJP-Sena coalition under former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Ministers of the ruling coalition are not yet commenting publicly on the issue, but sources said that if the Governor refuses to sign the bill then a face-off is likely. Incidentally, late January the state cabinet approved the move to bring in an ordinance to scrap direct election of sarpanches. The ordinance was sent to the Governor in February, however, Koshyari refused to sign it. MVA ministers claimed that the Governor had then said that since the budget session is going to be held soon, it was better that the state bring in a bill instead of an ordinance for this purpose. The state did it in February, however, the Governor has not yet signed the bill. “There is no option for him (Governor), both the houses have passed the bill, he has to sign it,” said a state minister on condition of anonymity.


The Sena, NCP and Congress, on the basis of their strength in the state legislature, cleared the bill. However, the fate of the bill is hanging in balance. The BJPShiv Sena government in 2017 introduced direct election by people for electing sarpanches instead of the earlier method of gram panchayat members electing them. Though Sena was part of the government, it had opposed the move as it believed that the move was an attempt by the BJP to control gram panchayats. Sena feared that this way the BJP would be able to increase its influence in the state by getting more candidates owing allegiance to the party coming to local bodies.

Constitutional expert Ulhas Bapat said, “The Governor need not assign any reason for not signing a particular bill, he can take his own time, he could also reserve the bill for the consideration of the President.”