Hyderabad: Gram panchayat elections to be held next month will place a big financial burden on TRS MLAs, coming as they do just 10 months before the Assembly elections.
The party will not provide funding for the panchayat elections and MLAs and party leaders have to bear the burden.
According to the Telangana Election Commission 12,734 gram panchayats and 1,13,190 panchayat wards will be going to the polls. Every Assem-bly constituency has on an average 100 gram panchayats and each gram panchayat has eight to 10 wards. In the major panchayats, the number of wards will be more.
Although the panchayat elections are held on a non-party basis, the candidates will be identified on party basis by local voters. To keep hold of the gram panchayats and to get the upper hand over opposition parties, MLAs and TRS leaders will have to ensure that their men win as sarpanches and ward members.
Distribution of money in gram panchayat elections has become as common as in Assembly and Parliamentary elections, said a TRS leader. A TRS MLA from North Telangana says that in the gram panchayat elections the expenditure in each Assembly constituency will be between Rs 1 crore to Rs 1.5 crore. If the constituency has more major panchayats, the expenditure will be more.
It is a known fact that in Assembly elections each candidate has to spend a minimum of Rs 4 crore.
Assembly elections will be held between April and May 2019. Even if an MLA spends a huge amount of money in the panchayat elections, there is no guarantee he will get a ticket in the Assembly elections. If an MLA does not spend money in the panchayat elections and if he gets a ticket for the Assembly elections, he will not have a grip on the panchayats in getting votes. So, whether they get a ticket or not for the next Assembly elections, all sitting MLAs have to spend money in the Panchayat elections.
