MEERUT, July 7 -- A court in Muzaffarnagar on Monday sentenced a former village head and his associate to death for the 2010 murder of a farmer, ruling that the killing, driven by Panchayat election rivalry, amounted to an attack on the democratic process. The court also ordered action against police personnel over lapses in the investigation. Additional District and Sessions Judge and Presiding Officer of Fast Track Court No. 3, Ravi Kumar Diwakar delivered the judgment, sentencing former village head Pramod and his associate Sahdev alias Pappu to capital punishment for the murder of 60-year-old farmer Rajbir Singh. While delivering the verdict, the court observed that democracy is built on ballots, not bullets, and stressed that Panchayats represent the first tier of democratic governance, where electoral rivalry can never justify violence. The court also directed the senior superintendent of police to initiate action against police personnel for negligence in the investigation. Rajbir Singh, a resident of Mandi village under the Titawi police station limits in Muzaffarnagar, was shot dead in his fields on August 24, 2010. His son, Pradeep Kumar, lodged an FIR against unidentified assailants. During the investigation, police identified Pramod and Sahdev alias Pappu, both from the same village, as the accused and filed a chargesheet. The court convicted them on June 30 and, after hearing arguments on sentencing, awarded them the death penalty. District Government Counsel Rajeev Sharma said the murder stemmed from rivalry over the village head election. The prosecution examined eight witnesses during the trial to support its case. Police had also named Amit and Vipin Sharma during the investigation, but both were killed in separate police encounters before the chargesheet was filed and were not included as accused....