It came into existence by 73rd Constitutional amendment act during Prime minister ship of P.V Narsimha Rao in 1992.
It is included under Schedule 11.
Originally Indian constitution had 8 schedules.
First Panchayat was constituted in Nagaur district of Rajasthan in 1959.
Panchayat existed before 73rd amendment but they did not have constitutional status and it was voluntary for states to have them or not to have them.
Various Committees related to Local self Government are:
B.R Mehta.
Ashok Mehta.
GVK rao.
Dantwala.
Hanumantha Rao.
L.M Singhvi.
Manishankar aiyyar.
All registered voters of village are members of Gram Sabha.
Panchayats have three tier structure, i.e. Village Panchayat, Panchayat Samiti at Block level, Zila Parishad at District Level.
States having less than 20 lakh population can opt for two tier structure by doing away with middle tier, i.e. Block level panchayat.
All members of Panchayats at all levels are elected directly.
At least 1/3rd reservation for women, states are free to give more than 1/3rd reservation up to 50% for women candidates.
1/3rd seats are reserved for Women Chairperson at all tiers.
Reservation for SC/ST as per proportion in population of the state (no fix percentage so it varies state wise)
For granting reservation to OBC candidates, it’s up to state governments to decide. (Note: reservation for women, SC, ST is mandatory for all states but giving reservation to OBC is voluntary subjected to discretion of State legislature)
Minimum age to contest panchayat election is 21 years.
State Finance Commission and State Election Commission are two Constitutional bodies created by 73rd amendment.
Indian Parliament not President or Governor is empowered to extend 73rd amendment act to those areas where it does not apply. Example: Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya.
Any electoral dispute is decided by special body created by state legislature, HC or any other court can’t interfere in matters related to Panchayat Election. (Note: matters related to Parliament and state legislature go to HC and for President and Vice President it goes to SC.)
In case of premature dissolution of Panchayat, new election is held, new panchayat can remain in power only for remaining period.
PRIs are example of democratic decentralization.
Gram sabha is an example of direct democracy.
There are separate electoral rolls for Local bodies elections.
Party symbols are not allowed in local body elections.
Lord Ripon is considered as father of local self-government in India.
Balwant rai Mehta is considered as father of Panchayati raj institution in India.
Unlike separate lists of Union and state, there is no separate list for state and Panchayats.
There are total number of 29 items which can be devolved from State towards Panchayats depending purely on State Government discretion.
Haryana and Rajasthan has mandated minimum qualification for contesting panchayat election.
(Rajasthan has now removed this provision)
Ashoka Mehta committee recommended for two tier structure, scrapping block panchayat and introducing mandal panchayat comprising cluster of villages.
