Andhra Pradesh conduct Local body polls in a month

Amaravati: The state government has decided to conduct local body elections within a month after the guidelines of AP High Court. Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday directed the officials concerned to approach State Election Commission on Wednesday to intimate the panel of state government's readiness to hold the elections to MPTCs, ZPTCs, panchayats and municipalities.

The state government has already promulgated an ordinance to bring certain revolutionary changes in the Panchayat Raj Act. It aimed at eradication of distribution of money and liquor in the elections to curb rampant corruption in elections.

In a video conference with district collectors and SPs as part of Spandana on Tuesday, Jagan Mohan Reddy directed police machinery to be firm in the conduct of the elections by taking it up as a challenge. He said that any person found distributing money during the elections would be debarred and also sent to jail for a period of three years apart from penalty.

The district SP would be entrusted with the responsibility of curtailing flow of liquor and money during elections, he said. The services of Police Mitras and Mahila police in the villages would be fully utilised for the purpose. The Chief Minister underlined the need for electing a person who has rendered service to the people by being available to them instead of electing a bigshots who throw money for getting elected.

Jagan Mohan Reddy said the ordinance was brought in to provide an opportunity to sincere and devoted persons to get elected as public representatives. The local body elections in the state should turn out to be an eye-opener to the whole country, he added.

The Chief Minister said that an app has to be created to curb irregularities in the local body elections as was being done in the general elections and it should be ensured that the data reaches the police and election officials who will swing into action.

He said the app should be made available to the Police Mitras, Mahila Mitras, volunteers and the village secretariat staff and to all the people so that all the data on all irregularities are stored in it. The ordinance copy should be prominently displayed in all village secretariats, he added.