Pertinent question: Who will receive nominations for panchayat polls in Andhra Pradesh?

VIJAYAWADA: The filing of nominations for the first phase of panchayat elections are scheduled to start from Monday, but no arrangements have been made in the districts to receive papers from the aspiring candidates. District panchayat officials said they are yet to get directions from the State government to make arrangements for receiving the nominations. 

Kurnool district panchayat officer (DPO) Prabhakar Rao said that though the State Election Commission has issued the notification for the panchayat elections, they were waiting for the State government’s instructions. Speaking to TNIE, he, however, said the district administration was ready to make arrangements for the elections and that the staff were already given training. 

On a note of anonymity, DPO of another district in Rayalaseema said they were not willing to go for election duties until the State government issued clear instructions. “Since we have not received any communication so far, we have not made any arrangement to receive nominations. However, we will make all arrangements for the polls once we get clear instructions from the State government, which, at present, is waiting for a favourable Supreme Court order on the appeal filed by it against the High Court order,” he noted. 

In Srikakulam district, where elections are scheduled to be held in nine mandals in the first phase, nominations have to be received from Monday. However, no arrangements have been made for the same. No official was delegated to receive nominations. “No election notification has been issued at the district level, marking commencement of the election process,” said Narayana Rao, district government employees’ association president. 

The final voters’ list was not prepared and no budget has been released so far for conducting elections in the district, he said, while expressing his unwillingness to go on poll duty as he does not want to take the risk. “Why should we risk our lives? There is no emergency. In the past also, panchayat elections were postponed for minor reasons. Today, we are facing a pandemic. For the past 30 months, panchayats were administered by special officers. Will two more months of it make any difference? All we are requesting is to reschedule elections for at least two months,” Federation of State Government Employees chairman Venkatarami Reddy said. He said voters have the right either to participate or not in the elections and the same option is being demanded by the employees.