BJP & Pawan Kalyan's Jana Sena denounce Andhra govt's incentive for unanimous elections

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its local ally Jana Sena denounced the Andhra Pradesh government's encouragement of 'unanimous elections' and declaring financial incentives for such gram panchayats. 

Pawan Kalyan-led Jana Sena leader Nadendla Manohar has alleged that unanimous elections are a ploy by the government to bring pressure on candidates who want to contest and using the local administration to make people withdraw from elections is a conspiracy to make elections unanimous. Manohar also said that as a political party, the Jana Sena has a responsibility in the matter and demanded nominations from across the state.

The TDP has also said that YSRCP should not resort to intimidation and should not force unanimous elections. On the other hand, State Election Commissioner N Ramesh Kumar had announced that an IG rank officer will be appointed to look into the unanimous local body elections in the State.

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AP Govt to give financial incentives for unanimous elections

On Tuesday, the Andhra Pradesh government had reemphasized their 2020 order that financial incentives will be given where elections are unanimous. The state government said that elections increase political rivalry and enmity and this stops the development and peace and harmony in villages. Chief Secretary of the state, Aditya Nath Das said that the Commissioner of Information and Public Relations should create awareness among people about the monetary incentive to panchayats if the elections are held unanimously. He said that the announcement will encourage unanimous elections, which will, in turn, promoting village development. To buttress the point of view of the state government, Das said that states such as Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Telangana, and Punjab conduct elections to Gram Panchayats on a non-political basis and Himachal Pradesh has non-party based elections. 

The local body polls which were scheduled for March 2020, were postponed by the  Andhra Pradesh State Election Commission (APSEC) by six weeks due to the pandemic and also owing to incidents of violence being reported since election dates were announced. The State Election Commission pointed out 23 forced withdrawals and 55 incidents of violence perpetrated by the ruling party  - YSRCP against the BJP and the TDP, seeking protection from the Home Ministry.

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