5 Members of a family elected in Panchayat polls for various posts

In a mini version of a political dynasty, five persons belonging to the same family have been elected as the sarpanch, upa-sarpanch, and ward members of Budampalli Gram Panchayat located in Koutalla mandal in Kumrambheem district.

The newly constituted Budampalli panchayat was split from the Kannepalli Gram Panchayat, making the family the first official leaders of the village. Reddy Shanker has been elected as the sarpanch and his wife Kamal as the upa-sarpanch. His mother Durgama, brother Malliah and his wife Susheela have been elected as ward members. Reportedly, the family comes from a poor background.

The entire village is dominated by Scheduled Caste and Backward Class families. The panchayat is, however, a notified one, which means that the posts of sarpanch and four ward members are reserved for Scheduled Tribes and the remaining four wards for other categories. All four reserved seats have now been occupied by a single family now. It is important to note that there are just 20 tribal families in the village where the number of voters are 1,200.

The State government has bestowed financial powers to the sarpanch and the upa sarpanch. Their thandas are located about 75 km from the district head quarters. At a time when political leaders spend a lot of money as election expenditure, a family of poor have been elected into power, that too, for major posts.Two phases of Gram Panchayat polls have been completed in the erstwhile Adilabad district and officials are gearing up for the third phase to be held on January 30.