Gujarat has demonstrated a distinctive grassroots democratic practice through the emergence of ‘Samras Panchayats’, wherein village heads and representatives are selected through consensus rather than electoral contest. In the recent elections across 4,564 Gram Panchayats, 761 villages adopted this method, thereby avoiding polling entirely.
This initiative, supported by the Gujarat government, incentivises consensus by offering financial grants ranging from ₹3 lakh to ₹13 lakh to such villages. The primary objectives include fostering village unity, reducing electoral violence and disputes, and promoting cooperative governance.
The Samras model offers valuable insights for states like Assam, where rural political rivalries often escalate into social tensions. Encouraging such consensus-driven local governance, with state-backed incentives and safeguards against elite domination, could strengthen participatory democracy and improve developmental coordination in diverse and sensitive regions of Assam.
Course Purchase Query 