State EC sets ball rolling for election process; parties eye unanimous polls

Hyderabad: The State Election Commission on Thursday issued the notification for the first phase of Sarpanch elections for 4,236 Sarpanches and 37,440 ward members. While the nomination process picked up in several villages, celebrations were already underway in some places as candidates took out victory rallies following the decision to make the elections unanimous.]

Tejpur village in Indravelli mandal, Adilabad district, became the first village in the state to elect its Sarpanch unanimously. On Thursday, the Commission issued notifications for the elections of 4,236 Sarpanches and 37,440 ward members.

]The last date to file nominations is November 29. Scrutiny of nominations will be conducted on November 30. The last date for withdrawal of candidature is December 3. Polling will be held on December 11, and counting will begin at 2 pm, with results declared the same day. In the case of an unanimous candidature, the result will be announced on the last date of withdrawal, i.e., December 3.

There were reports of efforts being made in several Panchayats to elect Sarpanches unanimously. In many villages, both the Sarpanch and all ward members were chosen unanimously by the locals.

Meetings were reportedly held in Saleguda, Dobbiguda, and Tejapur, where village heads selected Kova Rajeshwar as Sarpanch without the need for an election, along with the unanimous election of eight ward members. However, official confirmation regarding the unanimous election of the Tejapur Sarpanch is yet to be released. The announcement will be made on the last day of withdrawal.

Lone family to get Sarpanch and Ward member posts by virtue of reservations

In another interesting case, the Sarpanch of Manthan Goud village in Vikarabad district is set to be elected unanimously. The village, reserved for Scheduled Tribes (STs), has only one ST family, and one of its members is poised to become Sarpanch.

Similarly, the ward member seats are also reserved for STs, and members of the same family are expected to be elected as ward members.\

Ministers, MLAs, MLCs, and Corporation Chairmen were visiting their villages, trying to finalise candidates based on reservation quotas and ensuring that the majority of villages could have unanimous elections.

All major political parties are reportedly trying to influence villagers to ensure unanimous elections by offering up to Rs 10 lakh from their MPs’ or MLAs’ constituency development funds.

Meanwhile, reports indicate that Yadava Reddy from Nagulapalli, Peddemul mandal, Vikarabad district, has announced that if elected unanimously as Sarpanch, he will allocate Rs 30 lakh for village development. Of this, Rs 10 lakh will be given to the Hanuman Temple, Rs 6 lakh for minority and Christian welfare, and Rs 2 lakh for an emergency fund, generating considerable interest.

Station Ghanpur MLA Kadiyam Srihari had already announced that he would provide Rs 10 lakh for small Panchayats and Rs 15 lakh for big Panchayats to ensure unanimous elections in his constituency, in addition to the Rs 15 lakh incentive provided by the government.

During the previous elections, Adilabad district recorded the highest number of villages with unanimous elections, totaling 162. Other districts with notable unanimous elections included Nizamabad, Kamareddy, Sangareddy, Nirmal, Nalgonda, and Warangal Rural.