Yadgir Zilla Dalit Sanghatanegala Okkoota has said that with an intention to snatch the right of a Dalit gram panchayat member to occupy the panchayat president post in Ullesugur Gram Panchayat in Wadagera taluk of the district, vested interests approached the High Court of Karnataka in Kalaburagi and obtained a stay order against the election process.
Addressing a press conference in Yadgir on Sunday, Santosh Nirmalkar, Mareppa Chattarkar and other Dalit leaders said that the post of panchayat president in Ullesugur is reserved for Scheduled Castes members and they are supposed to occupy the top post for a 30-month period in the second term.
However, vested interests approached court and obtained a stay order against the election process. And, the District Election Officer and Deputy Commissioner of Yadgir, who is the third respondent in the writ petition filed before the High Court, has ordered the Tahsildar of Wadagera to take action as per the stay order issued by court upon hearing the writ petition.
“The intention of vested interests is crystal clear and they are not willing to allow a Dalit member to become the president of the gram panchayat, although the seat is reserved for SCs,” Dalit members said.
They further said that they will approach the Deputy Commissioner of Yadgir B. Susheela on Tuesday and request her to place the required and necessary documents before the High Court and get the stay vacated and issue a direction to the Tahsildar to conduct the election process as per the provisions of law and reservation already fixed.
Kashinath Natekar, Ningappa Beeranal, Saidappa Kolur, Sharanappa Pujari, Tayappa Bhandari and others were present.
