The first phase of the gram panchayat elections in Telangana has witnessed a remarkable trend of unanimous elections, with hundreds of candidates securing their posts without a contest. The Telangana State Election Commission released the data on Thursday, revealing a significant number of withdrawals and uncontested victories.
Unanimous Victories and Mass Withdrawals
According to the official details, a total of 395 sarpanchs and 9,331 ward members have been elected unanimously in this initial phase. This was made possible by a large-scale withdrawal of nominations. For the sarpanch posts, a staggering 8,095 candidates stepped back from the race. The district of Nalgonda led this trend with 959 withdrawals, the highest in the state.
A similar pattern was observed for ward member positions, where 9,626 candidates withdrew their nominations. Once again, Nalgonda district was at the forefront, accounting for 1,630 of these withdrawals.
Revised Poll Schedule and Contestants
The landscape of the elections has changed considerably due to these developments. Initially, polls were notified for 4,236 Gram Panchayats (GPs). However, after the last date for withdrawal of nominations on December 3, the number of GPs going to polls has been reduced to 3,836. The remaining were decided unanimously as only single nominations remained.
For these contested sarpanch posts, 13,127 candidates are now in the fray. In the case of ward members, elections will be held for 27,960 out of 37,440 posts, with 67,893 candidates contesting for them.
Posts with No Nominations and Historical Context
In a contrasting scenario, the commission reported that five sarpanch posts and 149 ward member posts received no nominations at all. This highlights varied levels of political engagement across different villages.
The scale of unanimous elections this time appears notably higher. For context, in the last panchayat elections, approximately 2,500 candidates were elected unopposed. The current figures for Phase 1 alone suggest a significant shift in the political dynamics at the grassroots level in Telangana.
