In the first phase of gram panchayat elections in Hassan, Arkalgud, Channarayapatna and Sakleshpur taluks of Hassan district, representatives have been elected for 197 seats unopposed, while there are no contenders for 34 seats.
Deputy Commissioner of Hassan R. Girish, at a press conference in Hassan on Tuesday, said elections will be held for 1,472 seats on December 22. There are 3,867 contenders in the fray.
Among the seats for which there were no contenders for 33 are in Sakleshpur taluk. The Karnataka Growers’ Federation, opposing the implementation of Dr. K. Kasturirangan’s report on the Western Ghats, had called for boycotting the election to put pressure on the governments on this issue.
“Our officers had visited the places and cleared the confusion over the impact of the report. However, people have not come forward to contest the elections in three panchayats – Hettur, Heggadde and Hongadahalla. Similarly, those people, who had filed nomination papers of Devaladakere, also withdrew them on Monday,” he said.
The officer said he had spoken to representatives of Karnataka Growers’ Federation and warned them of legal action for the boycott call. “We have told them to give in writing if they had any worries about the Kasturirangan’s report. The State government has also given assurance that nobody would be evicted from their place,” he said.
Holenarasipur, Arasikere, Belur and Alur taluk GPs will go for the polls in the second phase. Till Monday evening, there were no nomination papers for 354 seats in these taluks. “Wednesday is the last day to file papers for the polls in the second phase,” he said.
