Panchayati Raj and Autonomous Councils

The structure:

• The 73rd Amendment (1992) added Part IX, Articles 243 to 243O, and the Eleventh Schedule. It came into force on 24 April 1993.
• Article 243A: the Gram Sabha is everyone on the electoral rolls of a village within the panchayat area.
• Article 243B: panchayats at village, intermediate and district level. A State whose population is not above 20 lakh may skip the intermediate level, so three tiers are not found everywhere.
• Article 243C: the State Legislature decides the composition. All seats are filled by direct election; the chairperson is elected as State law provides. The chairperson and members vote in meetings whether or not they were directly elected.
• Article 243G and the Eleventh Schedule (29 subjects, such as agriculture and drinking water): what a State may hand over to its panchayats.
• Article 243H: the State may let panchayats levy, collect and keep taxes, duties, tolls and fees.
• Article 243I: a State Finance Commission every five years.
• Towns: the 74th Amendment (1992) added Part IXA (municipalities, Articles 243P to 243ZG) and the Twelfth Schedule (18 subjects).

The rules of Article 243D:

• Seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in every panchayat, in the same proportion as their population in that area.
• Not less than one-third of all seats for women, counting the SC and ST seats kept for women.
• Reserved seats rotate among constituencies.
• Reservation for backward classes is left to the State: it may provide it.
• One-third is a floor. Many States reserve half the seats for women by their own law.

The rules:

• Article 243K: the State Election Commission controls the electoral rolls and the conduct of panchayat elections.
• The State Election Commissioner is appointed by the Governor and can be removed only like a High Court judge. The Chief Election Commissioner of India has no role.
• The State Legislature makes the law on all matters about panchayat elections.
• Article 243E: a panchayat lasts five years from the date fixed for its first meeting. If dissolved early, a new one is elected within six months and serves only the rest of the five years.
• Article 243F: the minimum age to be a member is 21, not 25.
• A State may add conditions by law. In 2015 Rajasthan and Haryana set minimum school qualifications for candidates, and the Supreme Court upheld Haryana's law in Rajbala v. State of Haryana.

The rules:

• Article 243M: Part IX does not apply to Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram, to the Scheduled and tribal areas, to the hill areas of Manipur that have district councils, or to the Darjeeling hill council area.
• Assam and Tripura do have panchayats, except in their Sixth Schedule areas.
• The Sixth Schedule (Article 244(2)) covers tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.
• A District Council has up to 30 members, up to 4 nominated by the Governor and the rest elected. Elected members serve five years from the date fixed for the first meeting after the election.
• The accounts are kept in the form the Comptroller and Auditor General sets with the President's approval, and the CAG has them audited.
• The Governor may annul or suspend a council's act or resolution that endangers the safety of India or public order.