PARVATHIPURAM-MANYAM: At least 20 nominations were filed for five Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituency (MPTC) seats in Salur mandal despite Odisha’s local poll boycott campaign in the disputed Kotia region.
The TDP filed 11 nominations for the five MPTC seats, the YSRCP nine and the CPI one. The disputed Kotia group of 21 villages have around 4,349 residents, and over 1,600 registered voters in the five MPTC segments, including Ganjaibhadra, Kurukuti, Sarika, Tonam and Kodama in Salur mandal.
Kumari Habi Rashid, Deputy Commissioner, Odisha, camped in Kotia, and conducted field visits to several villages, including Ganjaibhadra, Eguva Sembi and Neredivalasa on the Andhra Odisha Border (AOB) to gauge public sentiment regarding the MPTC polls. During her visit, she interacted with locals, and enquired about their franchise in the local body elections conducted by the Andhra Pradesh State Election Commission.
Former Odisha Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal supremo Naveen Patnaik had written to Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, urging decisive intervention to safeguard Odisha’s territorial integrity after the Government of AP released notification for the local body elections.
Former Odisha Higher Education Minister Rabi Narayan Nanda led an aggressive door-to-door campaign in the disputed Kotia region, urging residents not to participate or cast their votes in Andhra Pradesh’s local body elections. He said villagers should boycott the neighbouring State’s democratic exercise as they come under Odisha’s purview.
High friction broke out at Pattuchennuru, where BJD activists reportedly confronted YSRCP leaders of AP during the latter’s election campaign. They raised provocative “Go Back Andhra” slogans, allegedly stormed the campaign site and destroyed food prepared for workers and locals.
This led to friction between the two sides. The people of the disputed Kotia villages urged the AP government officials to take all the necessary steps for smooth conduct of the MPTC and Panchayat elections as they want to exercise their franchise in a free and fair manner without yielding to any pressure from Odisha.
