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Uncertainty over Kakinada civic poll
The Kakinada Municipal Corporation (KMC) elections are taking a new turn every day. After a long gap of 7 years, the Election Commission on August 3 issued notification for the elections to KMC.
Kakinada: The Kakinada Municipal Corporation (KMC) elections are taking a new turn every day. After a long gap of 7 years, the Election Commission on August 3 issued notification for the elections to KMC.
Highlights:
- Activists are ready to move Supreme Court to stop elections over reservations
- A row is raging over merger of some panchayats
- Situation is tense at Kirlampudi in the wake of Mudragada’s agitation for Kapu quota
However, later on August 5, the commission again issued a fresh order exempting two divisions 42 and 48 from the elections. Some activists approached the High Court for stopping the merging process of their panchayats into this corporation. The panchayats which were meant to be merged into KMC don’t have an elected body since 2014.
There is a complete confusion over these merging issues. It is mainly because of S Atchyutapuram and Swamy Nagar gram panchayats which are not willing to merge with KMC. S Atchyutapuram falls under division-48 of this corporation.
This fresh notification ignited unrest among some communities, mainly for not allotting many divisions for Scheduled Castes.
As per announced reservations, four divisions are reserved for SCs and only one division is reserved for STs. Because of this, some activists are willing to approach the Supreme Court (SC) for stopping KMC elections.
They demanded more number divisions for SCs.Another major cause of concern is the ongoing Kapu agitation which is a burning issue in East Godavari district. The entire district is under Section 144 (CrPC of 1973) which empowers the police personnel to prohibit assembly of four people in an area.
Every political party is getting ready to contest in this election. Generally, all elections need campaigns to spread their views, opinions and promises to the public.
But, due to the poor law and order atmosphere at Kirlampudi, nobody knows what may happen. It can turn into a mass agitation and may become violent at any moment and can even spread like a wild fire in the district affecting the election.
In this uncertain atmosphere of court cases, agitations and disputes over reservation, allotments of divisions, the KMC elections are unlikely to be held as per the schedule.
