YSR legacy in TS
The ruling YSRC won 1,383 gram panchayats in its favour out of 3,249 that went for polling to the gram panchayat in phase-1 on Tuesday.
District-wise gram panchayats won by the YSR Congress supported candidates for the positions of sarpanches and ward members include: Anantapur101, Kurnool-118, Chittoor289, Kadapa-126, Prakasam93, Nellore-50, Guntur-178, Krishna-51, West Godavari63, East Godavari-67, Visakhapatnam-83 and Srikakulam-164, as per the reports available at 10 pm.
As the elections were held for 2,723 positions of sarpanchs and 20,157 ward members in the gram panchayats located in 12 districts with an exception for Vizianagaram district in the state, a large number of voters turned out to exercise their franchise.
Based on reports, voters cast their vote in favour of the contestants supported by both the ruling YSRC, Telugu Desam and other parties even though the election was held on a nonparty basis.
Out of a total number of 3,249 positions of the sarpanchs, 525 were unanimously elected and out of 32,502 positions of ward members, 12,185 were elected unanimously earlier. Migrant votes People of rural areas showed keen interest in casting their votes during the first phase of gram panchayat elections on Tuesday. Migrant people returned to their native places from workplaces and stood in long queues to cast their votes in Krishna, Guntur and other districts, thereby contributing to an increase in poll percentage.
Only Srikakulam and Kadapa districts registered below 80 percent voting. The highest 85.06 percent polling was registered in Krishna district and the lowest 75.77 per cent in Srikakulam district. Kadapa district recorded the second-lowest voting of 78 percent. Polling started at 6:30 a.m. for the 2,723 sarpanch and 20,157 ward members in 12 districts of AP. In majority villages, voters could be seen arriving at polling booths from 7 a.m. onwards. Their numbers increased after 8:30 a.m. and the trend continued till 3:30 p.m. when the polling ended.
Elders reached polling booths with the help of relatives. Locals and policemen help them to cast their votes on a priority basis.
Ruling YSR Congress and main opposition Telugu Desam have taken the gram panchayat elections as a prestigious issue, though these polls are held on nonparty basis.
According to sources, candidates, with support from political parties, offered financial packages to small, middle and big families for their votes. There are reports that `2,000 per vote has been paid in certain areas, apart from sarees. Those who returned from other places, including Telangana and Karnataka, for casting their vote were reimbursed travel charges and paid “bonus”.
Rural voters in Guntur district J. Sarathi, P. Venugopal and D. Siva said their villages did not have any elected body for the past seven years. They underlined that gram panchayat elections should be conducted on a timely basis, as they empower local people.
AS THE elections were held for 2,723 positions of sarpanchs and 20,157 ward members in the gram panchayats located in 12 districts with an exception for Vizianagaram district in the state, a large number of voters turned out to exercise their franchise.