KADAPA: In a repeat of the local body polls held in March, a few villages in Kondapur mandal have once again boycotted elections to a gram panchayat and a few MPTC seats this time too. No nominations were filed for the sarpanch post of Sugumanchepalle gram panchayat and its 14 ward members, MPTC 1 and 2 posts of Sugumanchepalle and Obannapet MPTC post. The deadline for filing nominations ended on Friday.
Villages like Obannapet, Choutepalle, Bommepalle, Dattapuram and Bukkapatnam in the mandal are getting submerged under the Gandikota project and the people have been rehabilitated. The officials have merged the Choutepalle under Obannapet panchayat and the three villages of Bommepalle, Dattapuram and Bukkapatnam under the Sugumanchipalle gram panahyat.
However, the villagers are up in arms against the merger. Similarly, the people of Sugumanchipalle raised their voice against the merger of three villages with the panchayat. None of the villagers from any of the parties came forward to contest the panchayat elections held in March this year. The officials have visited the villages and even tried to convince people, but in vain.
They have even extended the deadline for filing the nominations, but no one came forward and the villagers stuck to their demand of having separate panchayats for the villages.“The villages to which we were rehabilitated have several problems. If we have a panchayat of our own, we will have our own sarpanch and funds,’’ said Siva Reddy, a resident of Choutepalle.MPDO Jayasimha, who is also the returning officer, said they would take the issue to the notice of higher officials.