Elections to Gram Panchayats in Karnataka were held on February 25 and 27, 2005. This provided an opportunity for PAC to explore creative interventions to strengthen governance at the local level. It was also the first rural local body elections to be held after the State Election Commission of Karnataka ruled in favour of extending electoral disclosure to the Panchayats. Toward improving the quality of Panchayat polls, PAC conducted a campaign with its local partners in about 20 Panchayats spread over eight districts in Karnataka.

The objective of the programme was to build the capacities of the partner groups working at the grass roots level to enhance the quality of Panchayat polls and to demand better rural governance. Four programmes were conducted:

• Verification of electoral rolls

• Scrutiny of contesting candidates’ affidavits

• Training women candidates to file nominations

• Organising Mukha-Mukhis, public meetings where the contesting candidates declare their past achievements and their future plans for a particular village

Partner Spandana (Shimoga), Sadhana (Bangalore rural), Nagarika Seva Trust (Dakshina Kannada), Consumer Forum (Udupi), Prag Jyothi (Bidar), Disha (Davangere), Prajna (Mysore), Volunteers (Chamrajnagar), Dakshina Kannada Parisarasaktha Okkuta (Mangalore), and Bellandur Panchayat (Bangalore South) partnered with PAC in carrying out the above mentioned activities in their respective districts.

About the Campaign:

The campaign was divided into two phases:

• Capacity building: PAC conducted a capacity building workshop at the PAC office on February 11, 2005 on strengthening Panchayat elections through the four programmes mentioned above, and on how to carry out these activities in partnership with local groups in their respective areas.

• Verification of the voter’s list: Access to the voter’s list was easy and groups were able to obtain the information immediately. A random, house-to-house verification of the voter’s list in selected villages brought to light a number of issues, such as the exclusion of names, instances of duplicate entries and the continued presence of names from migrant communities (such as rock cutters) on the list in spite of their having already migrated. The exercise also unearthed several anomalies on the voter’s list, including names of deceased persons.

• Training of women candidates to file nomination for candidacy: Groups trained women members of self help groups (SHGs), many of them illiterate, on how to properly complete their affidavits. This training spurred interest among many SHG members, some of whom went on to contest in (and win) elections.

• Scrutiny of affidavits of contesting candidates: Partner groups scrutinised affidavits to check the level of compliance with the process, to analyse profiles of candidates, and to publicise information to enable voters to make informed choices. However, the exercise turned out to be a failure due to major problems experienced in obtaining the affidavits from the concerned Panchayats, Taluk offices and Deputy Commissioners’ offices.

• Mukha–Mukhis, public meetings with the candidates: Almost all the partner groups were able to organise Mukha-Mukhis in their respective Panchayats. The large turnout and the quality of debate and discussion were encouraging. The promises made by the candidates during these public meetings were recorded so that people could follow up later. The programme suffered a blow in Bellandur, however, where certain candidates and their associates prevented PAC from conducting public meeting with other contesting candidates.

Follow up:

PAC organised an evaluation workshop on March 18, 2005, where the groups shared their experiences about the campaign and made a brief presentation to Mr. B.G. Nanda Kumar, Secretary of Karnataka’s State Election Commission, to update him on the different initiatives taken up by the various groups. Based on their experiences during the elections, they recommended a number of measures to improve transparency and citizens’ participation in the electoral process. Recommendations included improving communication between various authorities and the public during the revision of electoral rolls, increasing participation on the part of eligible voters by correcting errors on the electoral rolls, providing intense training programmes for the Returning Officers prior to the elections, and introducing electronic voting machines and helpdesks at various Panchayat offices to assist citizens. PAC compiled the suggestions from participating groups and forwarded them to the State Election Commission for further action.