People will teach a lesson if local body elections are not held: Veerappa Moily

Bengaluru: Former Karnataka Chief Minister M. Veerappa Moily on Sunday said local body elections must be conducted on time, warning that failure to hold elections would go against the spirit of democracy.

Speaking at a seminar organised by the Karnataka Panchayat Raj Parishat at Gandhi Bhavan in Bengaluru on the occasion of Panchayat Raj Day, Moily said gram panchayats, taluk panchayats and zilla panchayats are as important as Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

The seminar discussed the reports of the 16th Finance Commission and the 5th State Finance Commission.

“Panchayats are also local governments and elections should be conducted regularly. If elections are not held, it would be an insult to the ideals of democracy. Elected administrations provide better opportunities for participation and development,” he said.

Moily said grants and funds would not be distributed if elections were not conducted.

He added that the Panchayat Raj system is the backbone of democracy and gram sabhas are its strong foundation.

He said greater priority should be given to strengthening gram sabhas. Moily also stated that during his tenure as chief minister, reservation was implemented in local bodies and decentralisation of power was carried out.

The senior Congress leader said every government faces hurdles in conducting local body elections due to political interests both inside and outside parties.

“When I was chief minister, then Panchayat Raj Minister M.Y. Ghorpade resigned due to obstacles in conducting panchayat elections. In the Assembly elections held the following year, we ended up getting fewer seats,” he said.

Moily also referred to political changes in Tamil Nadu and said ruling governments should understand how public opinion can change. “Otherwise, people themselves will teach a lesson,” he warned.