Kurseong, 13th June: After a hiatus of nearly 23 years, the much-anticipated Panchayat elections are set to take place in the hills. This year’s election will witness fierce competition for 127 panchayat member seats in 97 constituencies across 14 village panchayats in the Kurseong division, along with 31 seats in the Panchayat Committee.
Laxman Biswas, the Block Development Officer of Kurseong, shared details with the media regarding the upcoming elections. He informed that a total of 98 polling booths have been designated for the election of 127 Panchayat members and 31 Panchayat Committee members in the 14 Gram Panchayats under Kurseong, with an additional booth at Sant Mary’s. The nomination process began on June 9, and while no nominations were submitted on June 9 and 10, four independent candidates submitted their nomination papers on Monday.
Biswas further informed that the last date for nomination submission is June 15. The scrutiny of the nomination papers will take place on June 17, allowing candidates to withdraw their nominations until June 20. Seat reservations have also been implemented for the Panchayat elections in Kurseong. A total of 41 seats, including 17 seats for Scheduled Tribe women, have been reserved for Scheduled Tribes. Additionally, there are 13 seats reserved for Scheduled Castes, out of which 7 are reserved for Scheduled Caste women. Other backward classes have 5 reserved seats, with 2 seats allocated for women, while 59 seats remain unreserved.
As of January 1, 2023, there are approximately 82,707 registered voters for the 127 panchayat member seats and 31 seats in the Panchayat Samiti across the 14 Gram Panchayats under the Kurseong division.