Underage woman becomes sarpanch of Gujarat village; officials accept lapse in checking her forms

Mehsana, Jul 5 (PTI) An underage woman was elected as village sarpanch in Gujarat's Mehsana district as poll officials accepted her nomination papers without cross-checking her claim of being 21 years old, the minimum age for contesting, an official said on Saturday.

The issue came to light on Thursday when a list of newly-elected young sarpanches was being prepared for felicitation by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel at an event in Gandhinagar the next day, the official added.

In the gram panchayat polls held across Gujarat on June 22, Afroz Parmar was elected as sarpanch of Gilosan village, Taluka Development Officer (TDO) Ashish Patel said.

"As per rules, the minimum age to become sarpanch is 21 years. At the time of submitting her form, she claimed she is 21. That is why the then Returning Officer Nayan Prajapati and assistant RO Jignesh Solanki had accepted her form. Prajapati and Solanki made a mistake by not cross-checking Parmar's claim of being 21 years old," Patel said.

"Ahead of the CM's function, authorities had sought details of such sarpanches from us. At that time, we found out Parmar got elected despite being underage. While her election ID card shows her birth date as December 8, 2004, her school leaving certificate has January 7, 2005. In both cases, she did not meet the minimum age requirement of 21 years to contest polls," said Patel.

A report has been sent to the sub divisional magistrate for further action, the TDO added.

Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Urvish Valand said the RO accepted the form because candidates are required to mention only their age and not date of birth in the form.

"I have received TDO's report and sent it to the collector and the State Election Commission for further action. Prima facie, it appears the elected candidate gave false information. The SEC has to take a call on whether it was a bonafide mistake or an intentional one," Valand said. PTI COR PJT BNM