Senior CPI(M) Leader and MLA Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami has said that the latest amendment to the State Panchayat Raj Act, which deletes the requirement for the direct election of the Halqa Sarpanch and rests the powers of his/her election with the panches amounts to undermining the democratic process at the village and Halqa level.Terming the amendment as undemocratic, he said that if the government is concerned about the concentration of powers in the hands of Sarpanches, the emphasis should be on making them accountable rather than eroding the democratic content of the Panchayat Raj Act.Not only the Sarpanches but the members and officials of the block and district council should be elected directly, the CPI(M) leader stressed and said that this will make the Panchayat Raj institutions more democratic and accountable at all the three levels.He suggested that the planning, financial and important executive decisions taken by any sarpanchs should be endorsed by the Gram Sabha and there should be a minimum quorum of the Gram Sabha and mandatory, quarterly meetings for debating and endorsing those decisions.Tarigami stressed and urged the government to reconsider the latest amendment and bring in more democratic and progressive provisions in the act rather than belittle it. (KNS)