Panchayat Elections 2021: Candidates Offer To Pay Immigrant Voters' Commuting Fee

As the State of Andhra Pradesh gets ready for the first phase of the Panchayat Elections, which will be held on February 9, the situation is somewhat similar to how the general elections are being held.

Even though thousands of votes are needed for the assembly and parliamentary elections, the case is different when it comes to the Panchayat elections as it  is conducted on a non - party basis and confined to a smaller topography. It is restricted to the number of people in the respective villages and there is no need to call for those who have left the villages for employment or other purposes to the cities.

So the need for these migrant voters may not be necessary, but this time around, candidates are going all out to woo voters living elsewhere as every vote in these situations seems to count for these candidates.

Efforts are being made to contact those who have migrated to other areas. Many people are doing various jobs in different towns, district centres, as well as cities like Hyderabad and Bangalore and visits to their villages are restricted only for festivals and functions. Now with the onset of the panchayat elections, every vote is priceless and candidates are taking this a prestige issue as well.

Candidates' are collecting cell phone numbers through villagers, relatives, friends, making phone calls to them, and requesting them to come and vote for them. Despite being a weekday, they are also promising transportation costs for the bus or rail fare. While a few of them are also promising to provide cars for those who stay close by to come and vote for them.

This time around the 2021 Panchayat Elections are surely going to be interesting.

Also Read: AP Panchayat Elections 2021: Nomination Process, Last Date For Submission