NASHIK: In January 2021, gram panchayat elections were held in the entire district. In this election, 930 candidates who were elected from the reserved seats submitted their proposals to the District Caste Certificate Verification Committee for verification of caste validity certificate. Out of these, only 70 cases have been settled and 960 cases have been found to have various errors.
Due to non-fulfillment of documents, verification of caste validity certificate of the concerned members has been delayed. All the District Caste Verification Committees in the state have been functioning online since August 2020. In the gram panchayat elections held in January, backward class candidates had submitted their applications online to the Caste Validity Certificate Verification Committee.
Also, the winning candidates had applied for the certificate verification after being elected to the reserved seat. However, most of the candidates did not upload the required documents as well as original proofs (certified copies) while filling up the online application. Therefore, there are obstacles to certificate verification. In fact, it is the responsibility of the concerned backward class candidate to prove the claim of verification of caste validity certificate after winning the election.
However, 960 members of the district have turned their backs on it. The e-mail id from which the concerned candidates had filled the online application regarding the insufficiency of documents. Also, errors have been reported on the mobile number along with the e-mail id which was registered while filling the application. However, there is a picture of candidates ignoring the error.
Meanwhile, the applicant will not be able to verify the caste validity certificate if the errors are not rectified immediately online. Failure to submit the certificate within the stipulated time indicates permanent cancellation of the applicant’s gram panchayat membership. The committee has appealed to submit documents online without rushing to the office to rectify the error.