From 'Consensus' to No Contest: What's Happening to Local Democracy in Gujarat?

Decentralised democracy in Gujarat is getting weaker day by day thanks to the politics of the state. Two developments seem to have contributed significantly in weakening democracy in the state in particular. One is the Samras Scheme for Village Panchayats and the other is the craze of candidates, mainly belonging to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), to get elected unopposed in civic polls.

Narendra Modi became the chief minister of Gujarat for the first time on October 7, 2001. On October 26, 2001 he introduced the Samras scheme. According to this scheme, if a village develops consensus (samras) and unanimously decides who will become its sarpanch and village panchayat members, no election will be held in the village, and it will be declared a “Samras Village”. The state government will provide Rs 3 lakh to Rs 13 lakh as an incentive to the village as development fund. The exact amount of the development fund to be given to a village will depend on the size of the population and how many years it has been a Samras Village. There is special incentive fund to be paid to the village if only women are selected unanimously to all posts of the village panchayat and panchayat members.

The two purposes of the scheme are, as laid down officially, (1) to foster unity and harmony in the village and (2) to avoid local election disputes.

This scheme is fundamentally wrong, because villages in Gujarat, like villages in most states in India, are not homogeneous. They are divided hierarchically by caste and class. One finds the rich (farmers, traders and similar persons) belonging to elite castes have usually taken advantage of the Samras Scheme, and have dominated their respective panchayat.

Madhusudhan Bandi, a faculty of Gujarat Institute of Development Research, Ahmedabad, has studied the implementation of this scheme carefully. His study from 2021 shows that the rich and dominant persons in villages have usually taken advantage of this scheme. When there was one dominant wealthy caste, its members took turns to become sarpanch, and if there were more than one dominating castes, they shared the posts. For example, it was observed that in a village where Patels and Thakors were dominant, they decided to take turns to become sarpanch. They also usually selected panchayat members from their communities. Reserved seats in panchayats were usually allotted to those who were close to the dominant castes.

It was also observed that the socioeconomically weaker sections usually do not get opportunities to become sarpanch or members of village panchayats under the Samras Scheme. The socioeconomically weaker sections in Samras Villages, therefore, could neither vote in elections, nor had any say in selecting panchayat members. Competition and clashes were crushed under the argument that the scheme brings development funds to the village. The number of Samras Villages is ever-increasing in the state.

In the 2021 panchayat elections, 267 villages were declared Samras Villages, and the number jumped to 761 in the 2025 panchayat elections. That is, 5.43% of the total 14,017 village panchayats are Samras Panchayats today. The number may appear small but it is significant and also worrisome. Madhusudhan Bandi concludes that this scheme has shut the voices of the weaker sections in several villages in the state.

The other development that is weakening decentralised democracy in Gujarat is the craze of candidates to get elected unopposed in the civic polls. This is primarily to avoid elections and secondly to prove their power in their respective constituencies. In the 2015 local body elections, 37 seats were declared unopposed. In 2021, the number was 220. However, in the current election (held on April 26) the number jumped to 730. This jump may also be because the Aam Aadmi Party and Congress party entered the civic poll contest in a significant manner this year. As a result, the demand to get elected unopposed was also very high this year.

This civic poll this year in Gujarat was for 15 municipal corporations, 84 municipalities, 33 district panchayats and 260 taluka panchayat. Powerful candidates, mainly from BJP, were reported as having used force, threats and bribes to make other candidates withdraw. Complaints were reported by local newspapers from Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot and Kachchh and TV new channels such as BBC.

Complaints have been reported from Gir-Somnath, Valsad, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar and many other districts that many candidates were forced to withdraw from the elections by hook or by crook. Local newspapers and Gujarati channels have shown how this was done. Congress party and Aam Aadmi Party took away their candidates to distant places to protect them from BJP threats or bribes.

In several areas such as Kalol, candidates demanded police protection from BJP. Complaints were filed from Porbandar, Mehsana, Jamnagar, Chhota Udaipur, Kadi, Dahod, Surat, Valsad, Navsari and many other talukas (blocks). Complaints have also reported from different wards of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, such as Chandlodiya, Isanpur, Odhav, Chandkheda and others.

As is noted by press reports, on the last day for withdrawal of candidature, 400 candidates withdrew (or were forced to withdraw) when just four hours were left to the deadline. It seems all the past records were broken this year as reports said that, overall, 1,572 candidates withdrew. Another newspaper observed “money is flowing as never before”. Frequently, local police were used or even MLAs were helping the ruling party in forcing candidates to withdraw! In one instance, men were caught with a handgun and live ammunition. Finally, 730 candidates were declared unopposed winners on the last day of withdrawal.

To conclude, decentralised democracy in Gujarat is getting weaker thanks to Gujarat politics. It appears that the wealthy and powerful dominant groups in rural and also urban areas of the state dominate the elections also. To protect Gujarat’s democracy, the state government needs to remove the Samras Scheme immediately, and bring under complete control the craze to get elected unopposed.

Indira Hirway is Director and Professor of Economics, Centre for Development Alternatives (CFDA), Ahmedabad.

The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.