Panchayat season 4 begins from where it left off in season 3, where we saw how somebody orchestrated an attack on Pradhan Ji. Fortunately, he survived, but he never learned who was behind it. Meanwhile, Manju Devi was contesting the election for the position of Pradhan in the Gram Panchayat. Her opponent was none other than Bhushan’s wife, Kranti Devi, a feisty woman who was ready to give Pradhan Ji and Manju Devi tough competition. So, Prahlad, Vikas, and Abhishek, Pradhan Ji’s entire team, got busy canvassing in full force to make sure that Manju Devi won the elections. With that said, let’s find out who won the elections, and what impact it had on everybody’s lives.
Spoiler Alert
Did Bhushan and Abhishek resolve their issues?
In the previous season, we had seen that Bhushan had filed an FIR against Abhishek Tripathi, aka Sachiv Ji, whereas Brij Bhushan Dubey, aka Pradhan Ji, had made a formal complaint against Bhushan and former MLA Chandra Kishore Singh. Abhishek was very stressed as he knew the consequences criminal charges could have for his career. Abhishek was preparing for MBA examinations, and he didn’t want his hard work to go to waste just because of some inconsequential issues. One night, Abhishek got drunk with Vikas and Prahlad, and in that inebriated state, he made the impulsive decision to go and apologize to Bhushan and his wife, Kranti Devi, and get done with the issue. Abhishek set his ego aside and told the couple that he was not happy with what had happened and that he admitted his fault. Kranti Devi, who was contesting the gram panchayat election and standing against Manju Devi, saw an opportunity, and she decided to offer Abhishek a deal: she told Abhishek that if Pradhan Ji withdrew the FIR, which he had filed against Bhushan, then she would withdraw her case too. Abhishek did not know how to ask Pradhan Ji to withdraw the FIR after what had happened in the past. Pradhan Ji had been shot, and nobody could have ever imagined that sort of thing happening in the village. Though Pradhan Ji also didn’t know for sure if Bhushan had a role to play in the attack or not, he did have a strong motive, which made him a prime suspect. Pradhan Ji was a man with a big heart, and he decided that he would go ahead and help Abhishek out. But there came a twist when Bhushan went to meet Chandu Singh, who asked the former to get his FIR quashed too. So Bhushan went back with renewed terms and conditions and told Abhishek about it. Abhishek and Pradhan Ji just got frustrated at the end because Bhushan kept increasing his demands. Abhishek told Pradhan Ji that there was no need to take his FIR back, as he was done dealing with people like Bhushan. Bhushan deep down knew it was an lost opportunity for him, as he could easily have reached an agreement, but then again, he had to obey Chandu Singh’s order, and there was not a lot that he could do about it.
Who shot Pradhan Ji?
The big question was who’d shot Pradhan Ji, as there was speculation that that he had paid somebody to attack him, basically to win the sympathy of the people. Bhushan, in a confrontation with Pradhan Ji, said that it all felt way too convenient for him to believe that Pradhan Ji didn’t have any role to play in it. Bhushan said that he didn’t understand why a professional killer would shoot Pradhan Ji just once, and that too in the shoulder, if his intention was to kill him. Bhushan’s observations actually made sense, which was why even Pradhan Ji’s own people doubted his intentions, even if for a brief moment.
Bhushan might have been a shrewd conspirator, but everybody knew that he wasn’t really capable of having somebody killed. Also, the way Chandu Singh was behaving, it became clear that he too didn’t have any clue who the hired gun was. In fact, Chandu Singh knew that the case would ruin his image, and high command wouldn’t give him a chance to stand for election the next time. Which was why the man caught hold of each and every criminal in the area and asked them to tell him who was behind the attack. Meanwhile, Pradhan Ji and Manju Devi were facing tough competition from Kranti Devi and Bhushan. Bhushan knew that there was a wave of change in the village, and he actually stood a chance to beat Pradhan Ji this time around. Also, all the negative publicity that Kranti and Bhushan were doing was actually helping their cause. Bhushan wanted to find some information that he could use against Pradhan Ji’s entire team. He got to know that Vikas had bought a piece of land recently that was located on the main road. He realized that Vikas, who earned not more than a lakh per annum, couldn’t have made the purchase all by himself. Bhushan suspected that Vikas probably had an illegitimate revenue source that nobody knew about. Bhushan, at that time, didn’t know that it was Prahlad who had given him the money, as he treated Vikas like his own family. Bhushan went to Chandu Singh and told him about the matter, who then used his contacts to conduct a raid at Pradhan Ji, Abhishek, and Vikas’ houses. A sum of six lakh rupees was in Vikas’ house, and he knew that if the officers found it, they would charge him and his wife for fraud. That money didn’t come from any illegal channels, but Prahlad and Vikas still knew that the officers wouldn’t listen to them and would take them into custody, at least for the time being. Surprisingly, when Vikas and his wife were being taken away by the IT department, some high-ranking official came and asked the officer in charge to immediately leave the couple. Nobody knew who that man was until Pradhan Ji got a call from Saansad Ji (who was the MP from that area), and that’s when the entire mystery was solved. Saansad Ji offered for Prahlad to contest the election from Chandu Singh’s seat, as he felt that after the demise of Prahlad’s son, he would get a lot of sympathy votes from the people. Meanwhile, Chandu Singh also arrived at Saansad Ji’s residence after he got the news that the Party High Command didn’t want to be associated with him. When Chandu Singh saw Pradhan Ji and his entire team at Saansad Ji’s residence, he realized what was happening behind his back. It was revealed that it was Saansad Ji who had orchestrated the attack on Pradhan Ji, letting Chandu Singh take the fall. Since the beginning, the plan was to remove Chandu Singh from his position of power and offer his position to somebody else. Chandu was angry, but he knew that he couldn’t do anything, at least at that point in time. His only hope was for Bhushan to win the election, which would give him some hold over the area. Prahlad, after learning that Saansad Ji was most probably the mastermind behind Pradhan Ji’s shooting, just didn’t want to be associated with him. He told Pradhan Ji that he wouldn’t contest the election, but Pradhan Ji made him understand that he should not commit that blunder. Pradhan Ji told Prahlad that he needed to seize the opportunity and not get stuck in what happened in the past.
Did Manju Devi and Pradhan Ji win the election?
Pradhan Ji and Manju Devi got quite frustrated by Bhushan and Kranti Devi’s tactics. They tried to convince Vinod to join their party, but that plan failed too, as Vinod proved to be an extremely loyal man. He was disrespected by Bhushan at times, but he made it very clear that his loyalty couldn’t be bought. Manju Devi and Pradhan Ji tried running a cleanliness drive in the village and doing some work for social welfare, but every time Bhushan and Kranti Devi stole their thunder, or at least managed to spoil their plans. One day, a transformer exploded in the area, and both sides saw it as an opportunity to win the support of the local people. It was not such an easy task to call for an electrician, as one had to travel to a nearby village, and Pradhan Ji knew that if he could do that and bring back electricity, then nobody would be able to stop them from winning the election. But now the problem was that the electrician lived in Chandu Singh’s village, and it was a near impossible task to venture there and come back unharmed. Still, Pradhan Ji, Abhishek, Prahlad, and Vikas decided to take the risk and get the electrician. What they didn’t know was that it was a trap, and Chandu Singh was waiting for them to enter his territory. Chandu Singh sent his men to give a good thrashing to Pradhan Ji and his team and scare them off. When Pradhan Ji came back empty-handed, Bhushan raised a huge fuss about it. He told the villagers that not being able to get the electrician was proof of the fact that Manju Devi and Pradhan Ji’s reign was over and that they needed to pass the baton. Still, even after everything went against Pradhan Ji, he was quite confident that Manju Devi would win the election.
In Panchayat season 4’s ending, the result of the election came out, and Kranti Devi won by 73 votes. Pradhan Ji wasn’t able to take the defeat, as he’d probably never imagined that the people would lose their faith in him and support Bhushan even after he had done so much for them. But the people had made their decision, and Pradhan Ji did not have any option other than to scrutinize where he had gone wrong and what gave Bhushan an edge above him.
Will Abhishek Keep Working As The Secretary?
Though Abhishek got the 97th percentile in his CAT examination and he was hopeful that he would get into a good college, he didn’t know how to work under Bhushan and Kranti Devi. Abhishek was still the Secretary of the Gram Panchayat, and he knew that even if he went to college and resigned from his position, he would have to spend another 3 to 4 months in the village. Also, Rinki, Pradhan Ji’s daughter, was not happy about Abhishek wanting to leave their village. They both loved each other, but they didn’t know what the future held in store for them. Rinki knew that if Abhishek went to college, it would be difficult for them to be in a relationship. Also, she hadn’t decided what she was going to do, i.e., if she was also going to go for further studies or if she was going to start a business of her own. The gleeful look in Bhushan’s eye made it very clear that he was going to make Abhishek’s life a living hell as long as he was there. As for Prahlad, I believe that he will contest the MLA election, though he is well aware of the extent to which Chandu Singh would go to put as many obstacles as he could in his path. It would be interesting to see how Pradhan Ji copes with the defeat, if he is able to regroup and strategize, or if he decides to stay away from politics for some time.
