Sarvepalli MLA Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy has appealed to political leaders and villagers to encourage unopposed elections to gram panchayats, citing the state government’s decision to offer financial incentives for consensus-based polls.
Under the scheme, panchayats with a population below 5,000 will receive `15 lakh, those with a population below 10,000 `25 lakh, and those with more than 10,000 people `50 lakh.
In a statement on Sunday, Chandramohan Reddy said the coalition government would release the incentives promptly and utilise the funds for village development. He recalled that the previous YSRC government had announced `5 lakh for panchayats elected unopposed but had not released the amount.
Referring to the previous panchayat elections, he said his party had given leaders the freedom to contest voluntarily, citing alleged harassment, vindictive politics and excessive expenditure during the YSRC regime.
With the NDA coalition in power at both the Centre and in the state, villages could secure substantial funds for development, he said. He urged people to set aside political differences, avoid unnecessary election expenditure and debts, and work towards unopposed elections in the interest of rural development.
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