ravi ji,
my knowledge on panchayats may not be 1% of yours. neither i've attended or seen the proceedings of any panchayat. but this is for sure that our panchayats are no more a consecrated or a pious institution, as might be the perception of many on this portal.
i cannot be very precise about the rot that (now) exists in our panchayat system esp if you talk of sarpanch's being bought by a bottle of liquor. but i can definitely quote you an example who happens to be my distant rishtedar nd how he managed to got elected. he made the liquor flow in abundance amongst chamar's nd chudha's of the village and got elected as a member, not once, but couple of times. not only this, he happens to be the close aide of village sarpanch. this count of incidence is well known to me nd i can say that with conviction.
its no wonder that the same may hold true for sarpanch(s) as well.