Political parties yet to take plunge into electioneering

Prospective women candidates in great demand for reserved seats

July 09, 2013 02:56 pm | Updated November 16, 2021 08:58 pm IST - ELURU:

It’s a lull before the storm in West Godavari district a day ahead of the commencement of the phase of nominations for the gram panchayat elections. Fluid situation prevails over the district horizons as the election managers are groping for potential candidates for the posts of sapranches and ward members.

The prospective women candidates are in great demand in the seats reserved for fair sex.

The political parties are yet to take a plunge into the electioneering.

When the TDP and the Congress seem to be adopting a wait and watch policy, the YSRC is ahead of its rivals.

The YSRC district president and Polavaram (ST reserved) MLA Tellam Balaraju has already kicked off the election campaign on his party’s behalf in the tribal and upland villages. The party’s honorary president Y.S. Vijayamma’s statement that the performance of the leaders in the panchayat raj elections would be considered while allotting the party tickets for the Assembly and the Lok Sabha seats in the forthcoming general elections gave the much-needed momentum to the party’s election campaign.

Regardless of the calls of the bosses of all parties against compromises, the village level election workers are said to be making every effort to avoid the contest by striving for unanimous elections.

This trend is more observed in the seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes, according to information. The caste organisations are said to be taking the lead to keep the contestants from their castes away from politics in a bid to maintain their hold over the electioneering. Educated women from the SC and BC communities, who are well-placed in government jobs and the other plum positions, are said to be reluctant to give up their cozy jobs and enter the election arena.

Meanwhile, the CPI (M) has decided to field its candidates in 55 sarpanch posts and 500 panchayat ward posts in 41 mandals in the district.

The party district secretary M. Sitaram and State committee member R. Satyanarayana Raju told reporters that the CPI (M) was on the look-out for like-minded candidates for seat adjustments beyond political affiliations. The district has a total electorate of 21.48 lakh, of which women account for 10.7 lakh. The election is scheduled to take place in 884 gram panchayats in the district.

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