ADILABAD: In parts of the erstwhile Adilabad district, the run-up to gram panchayat elections has become a familiar ritual, except in the places where it is not possible to apply the ritual.
The villages of Gudem, Ruyyadi, and Nelkivenkatapur routinely feature in local political conversations, yet none of them has managed to elect a sarpanch for decades. The reason: all three are reserved for Scheduled Tribe candidates, and all three have no ST residents.
The result is a cycle that borders on the absurd.
Gudem, in Dandepalli mandal of Mancherial district, has not seen a sarpanch election for about 38 years. The reservation for an ST sarpanch was introduced in the late 1980s, officials say, but the village has never had a single tribal household. With more than 2,100 voters waiting for representation, the post remains vacant simply because no eligible candidate exists.
The irony deepens when one considers that even the ward reservations follow the same pattern. Reserved, but unfillable. Announced, but untouched. Election season arrives and passes, yet the ballot boxes remain stacked in storerooms, untouched since 1987.
Nearby, Nelkivenkatapur and its offshoot, Vanjarguda, have also slipped through the electoral net.
Vanjarguda was carved out as a separate gram panchayat, but villagers opposed the division from the start and moved the high court. They boycotted elections in 2019, insisting the split made no administrative sense.
In the parent village, Nelkivenkatapur, the sarpanch post is also reserved for an ST candidate. Once again, not a single tribal resident lives there. No election has been held.
Thus, one village refuses to exist as a gram panchayat, while the other cannot function as one.
Ruyyadi in Talamadugu mandal presents an almost identical picture. Its sarpanch post, along with several ward seats, has been reserved for the ST category for about 35 years. But the village, like Gudem, has no tribal population. An upa-sarpanch has been functioning as the de facto head, effectively running a gram panchayat that has never had an elected leader.
Villagers across all three gram panchayats say the reservation status has also complicated land transactions. Once classified under the Agency category, agricultural land purchase and sale became restricted, frustrating farmers who hoped to expand holdings or sell small plots to raise money.
Residents allege that the government should review or lift the Agency tag for village-level administration where no tribal population exists, arguing that development work has stalled under a structure that cannot be operationalised.
“Democracy has not failed; it has been waiting for candidates who do not exist. And until the rules change, the biggest election story here is the election that never happens,” a resident of Ruyyadi village said.
Youth Congress urged to contest local body polls
Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) chief B Mahesh Kumar Goud called upon Youth Congress leaders to contest in gram panchayat, MPTC and ZPTC elections to understand the pulse of the people, stressing that Youth Congress will be given many opportunities. He was at the Telangana Youth Congress executive committee meeting at Gandhi Bhavan on Saturday. Mahesh noted that many leaders have emerged after working in the Youth Congress and NSUI, saying that such opportunities come only in the Congress.
Final day rush for nominations in erstwhile Medak
With Saturday being the last day for filing nominations for the first phase of gram panchayat polls, returning officers’ offices saw heavy crowds as candidates queued up from noon till late in the night. A large number of aspirants filed nominations for both ward member and sarpanch posts across the erstwhile Medak district, particularly in industrially developed and urbanised panchayats. The first two days had seen a feeble response.
Sub-inspector quits service to contest Sarpanch election
Sub-Inspector Puli Venkateswarlu of Kodad Town Police Station has taken voluntary retirement, despite having five months of service remaining, to contest for the sarpanch post in his native Gudibanda gram panchayat, Kodad mandal. He said he made the decision to stay closer to the people and work for the development of his village. Meanwhile, several tribal gram panchayats in Utnoor, Gadiguda, Pembi, Mamada and Indervelli mandals in the erstwhile Adilabad district have elected their sarpanches unanimously.