The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the JanaSena Party in Andhra Pradesh are going to contest the upcoming panchayat elections together.
On the 27th of January, the BJP State President Somu Veerraju and the JanaSena Party leader Nadendla Manohar, during a press conference, confirmed the BJP-JanaSena alliance for the State Grama Panchayat elections.
The press conference was held at the new State BJP office in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh.
According to sources, Mr. Somu Veerraju and Mr. Manohar demanded the State Election Commission (SEC) to conduct a fair and free polls, scheduled from the 9th of February.
The Alliance alleged the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) of intimidating the candidates who wished to contest the polls.
They also opposed the call given by the YSRCP leaders for the unanimous victories.
The Alliance during the conference said they oppose the encouraging unanimous elections call by the YSRCP Government by declaring financial incentives up to Rs. 20 lakh.
Mr. Manohar said, “Unanimous elections are a ploy by the government to scare people, to bring pressure on candidates who want to contest. Using the local administration to make people withdraw from elections, it is a conspiracy to make elections unanimous.”
The allegations came after on the 26th of January, the Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy led YSRCP called for unanimous victory.
Manohar said as a political party, the JanaSena has a responsibility in the matter and called for nominations across the state.
He demanded that the State Election Commission on behalf of the BJP and the JanaSena take suo motu cognizance of the issue and look into it, calling for elections to take place in all villages and panchayats, to negate unanimous polls.
Manohar said both the parties have taken an appointment with Governor Bisaw Bhusan Harichandan on the 29th of January to make a representation.
Mr. Manohar said, “Elections should happen in a free and transparent environment. Democracy should be upheld. Administration should also work to uphold democracy.”
They announced financial incentives up to Rs. 20 lakh in the forthcoming panchayat polls to encourage unanimous elections and thereby enable the gram panchayats to concentrate on development work.
Under the unanimous victory call, the unanimously selected candidates would get cash incentives.
The decision of the YSRCP Government is a similar practice followed by Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Telangana and Punjab, which continue to have elections on a non party basis.
Unanimous elections in gram panchayats (GPs) with a population less than 2,000 will receive a financial incentive of Rs. 5 lakh while GPs with a population between 2,001 to 5,000 will receive Rs. 10 lakh.
Likewise, GPs with a population between 5,001 to 10,000 will receive an incentive of Rs. 15 lakh for unanimous elections.
Those GPs with a population above 10,000 will receive Rs. 20 lakh.
Raising his voice against unanimous victory, Nandendla Manohar said, “This opportunity will encourage youth to move forward in public life, which Pawan Kalyan also called for. Both the BJP and the Janasena decided to contest at all places in the panchayat elections.”
The major parties fighting to contest the elections are: the YSRCP, the Telugu Desam Party and the BJP-JanaSena alliance.
However, the YSRCP is unhappy with the elections now and are opposing the conduct of the Panchayat elections amid the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination drive.
They even moved the Supreme Court (SC,) hoping a stay on the elections, but failed, as the SC approved the elections and dismissed their petition.
The State Panchayat elections are to be held in four phases, beginning from the 9th of February till the 21st of February.
While the first phase would be held on the 9th of February, the other three phases would be held on the 13th of February, the 17th of February and the 21st of February.
Stay tuned for further updates.
