Ganjam: The Panchayatiraj Divas saw a sarpanch in Odisha’s Ganjam district being disqualified from the post for not knowing Odia, having two wives and six children.
Notably, a person will be disqualified for being elected or nominated as a Sarpanch or any other member of the Grama Panchayat constituted under the 1994 Odisha Gram Panchayat Act, if he or she does not know how to write and speak Odia, have more than two children and illegally has more than one husband/wife.
Such a person cannot contest any post too.
P Simadri had won the sarpanch post in Agastinuagam gram panchayat under Chhatrapur block of Ganjam district by defeating his nearest rival Niwasi Gouda in the 2017 panchayat polls.
Gouda had then filed a petition at the Civil Judge Senior Division Court in Chhatrapur challenging his election on the grounds that he did not know the Odia language, had two wives and six children.
“Based on the statements of four witnesses, two from each side, the Chhatrapur Civil Judge Senior Division disqualified the standing sarpanch Simadri for not knowing Odia. The Court has also directed the District Collector to take further action in this regard,” Gouda’s lawyer, Srikant Mishra said.
