Giving undue publicity to the financial incentive for gram panchayats that elect their sarpanches unanimously will be viewed as an activity negative to the democratic spirit of elections, and such “forced unanimous” decisions will be stopped at any cost, State Election Commissioner N. Ramesh Kumar has asserted.
Addressing the media here on Friday night, Mr. Ramesh Kumar said that those trying to influence the voters by any means to go for unanimous elections would be put under house arrest to ensure free and fair casting of votes.
Mr. Ramesh Kumar said that in the 2006 elections, there were 18% cases of unanimous elections in Kurnool district, and that had come down to 14% in 2013, mainly due to the voters being better informed and democratic values getting imbibed.
“But if someone tries to give advertisements to propagate ‘unanimous election’ as though it is the panacea for development of gram panchayats, it will be viewed seriously and summarily stopped,” he warned.
Strict vigil
“The Kurnool electors are quite matured. They had came out to vote in highest numbers - 88% in 2013 elections. I hope, in the current elections, despite the COVID-19 pandemic disturbing the people health-wise, they will come out in large numbers and vote,” Mr. Ramesh Kumar said.
Camera teams would follow people coming for canvassing in the villages and a shadow team would keep an eye on their activity, he added.
Kerala, Karnataka, and Rajasthan held panchayat elections, and no large-scale unanimous elections were witnessed there, and none campaigned / publicised this aspect, the SEC observed.
“Unanimous elections are a natural process in a few places where people of eminence or popular in a village are urged by all local residents to unanimously get elected for development of their panchayat. But no financial lure or criminal force should be used. Superintendent of Police Fakkeerappa Kaginelli and District Collector G. Veerapandian have made sufficient arrangements to check such instances,” he said.
The SEC was all praise for the district administration and the health professionals and workers for controlling COVID-19 and bringing down positive cases from more than 1,000 a day to just a single digit now.
