In Maharashtra's Villages, Gram Panchayat Polls Go Uncontested for Decades

Even as national debate continues over electoral rolls, deletions and transparency, a quieter erosion of choice has persisted in parts of rural Maharashtra, where several gram panchayats have gone decades without a contested election. In some villages, no local poll has been held for as long as 70 years, with members chosen unopposed.

In Angar town in Solapur district, a gram panchayat election has not taken place in 60 years. When the village was upgraded to a nagar panchayat last year following population growth, the leadership remained uncontested. Former MLA Rajan Patil, whose family has long dominated local politics, said residents vote only in Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. "We have stood united for all these years, and people have faith in our family," he said.

Over the decades, the family has moved through the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party and, at present, the BJP. Mr. Patil, who succeeded his late father Baburao, now shares power with his sons Ajinkya and Vikrant, while his daughter-in-law Prajakta was elected unopposed as the nagar panchayat's first president last year. The transition was marked by controversy after opponents alleged that aspiring candidates were threatened and pressured not to contest, charges the family denies.

Mr. Patil defends the practice, arguing that competitive elections divide communities, waste money and hinder development.

A similar pattern is visible in Perid village in Kolhapur district. With a population of about 3,000, the village has not held a contested gram panchayat election since 1956, leaving the local Patil family in charge. Deputy sarpanch Shivaji Patil said villagers come together to decide who should be a member. In the last election, one person broke with tradition and a contest was held for one of the nine seats, but the candidate did not turn up to vote.

He said the unopposed culture extends beyond village politics to local milk societies and other cooperative bodies. To prevent bitterness and feuds that tear families and social bonds apart, their forefathers chose this model, he added.

The tradition has been preserved in communities now celebrated as model villages for water conservation and rural development, including Ralegan Siddhi, associated with Padma Bhushan social activist Anna Hazare, and Hiware Bazar in Ahilyanagar district, linked to Padma Shri awardee Popatrao Pawar.

Mr. Pawar has long insisted that village decisions be made unopposed in the gram sabha so that the community acts as a united front. Yet dissenting voices have emerged in recent years in several villages, including Hiware Bazar and Ralegan Siddhi. While panels backed by Mr. Hazare and Mr. Pawar won the 2021 elections, opposition panels still contested, breaking the streak of complete unanimity.

Kolhapur-based political analyst Dr. Ashok Chousalkar said the concept of unopposed panchayat elections is neither new nor necessarily a healthy sign of democracy. He noted that Maharashtra's cooperative sector, particularly sugar cooperatives, adopted the culture to suppress dissenting voices. "Of course, there are some villages where all residents are taken into confidence for unopposed elections, but these are rare cases," he said. "In the majority of villages, the dominant political family makes the decisions and uses its full power to suppress any opposition."

Alka Kamble, former sarpanch of Waghapur-Lasina in the Vidarbha region's Yavatmal district, argued that marginalised communities suffer the most. Village bigwigs generally manage unopposed elections by selecting compliant members who offer no opposition, she said. When seats are reserved for women, particularly Dalit and other backward class women, active women are sidelined in favour of candidates who will not raise their voices. "I have been demanding that if we go for unopposed elections in our village, the decision must not be imposed by bigwigs in the village. It should be unanimous," she said.