mandya the state election commissions condition banning contractors from contesting the gram panchayat elections can hardly be effective the contractors are working around the condition by fielding their relatives as their proxiesthe sec has banned the candidature of contractors if they have construction contracts agreements with the gps concerned this is to stop the elected contractors from illegally benefiting from their membership as they can do substandard construction works and influence manipulate the panchayats machineryaccording to sources nearly half of the elected village panchayat members have been contractors after their election there have been rampant corruption in contractrelated works as they can tweak the rule book which says the karnataka grama swaraj and panchayat raj act 1993 section 12 h disqualified a person if he has directly and indirectly any share or interest in any work done by order of grama panchayatwhen contractorcummember are helming the local body there would be no one to question his her shoddy jobsfollowing the secs rider contractors are fielding their spouses siblings and parents so that they can continue their contract business with the gps concernedhulkere mahadevu a political thinker said that the there is widespread corruption in contract works of gram panchayats as elected memberscumcontractors carry out substandard works how can the elected body which is supposed to ensure quality works for gram panchayats do its job when its members are contractors themselves sec has taken the right decision in barring contractors from contesting the polls however this decision may not be effective as contractors are fielding their relatives as their proxies outsmarting the sec he saidmahadevu suggested that the sec and the government ban the entire family of contractors from contesting the polls