ECI asks State Government to defer Rythu Bandhu till polls

During the Jana Jatara Sabha in Kothagudem on Saturday, the Chief Minister had openly declared that Rythu Bharosa disbursement would be completed by May 8. To this effect, he even challenged BRS president K Chandrashekhar Rao.

Hyderabad: The Election Commission of India (ECI), on Tuesday, directed the Telangana government to defer payments under the Rythu Bandhu scheme until after the Lok Sabha elections, which are scheduled for May 13th.

This was after N Venukumar lodged a complaint with the ECI, which issued orders to Telangana Chief Electoral Officer Vikas Raj, pointing out that Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy had violated the model code of conduct by announcing that Rythu Bharosa (earlier Rythu Bandhu) would be disbursed on or before May 9.

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During the Jana Jatara Sabha in Kothagudem on Saturday, the Chief Minister had openly declared that Rythu Bharosa disbursement would be completed by May 8. To this effect, he even challenged BRS president K Chandrashekhar Rao.

Venukumar had lodged a complaint with ECI on Monday pointing out that this was a violation of the MCC. “In the above premise and clear violation of Model Code of Conduct by Revanth Reddy, President Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee and star campaigner and Chief Minister, the Commission has directed that disbursement of balance installment under the Rythu Bharosa scheme for Rabi season of 2023 will be effected only after completion of poll in the state of Telangana on 13.05.2024,” the Commission said.

The decision of the Commission was to be communicated to the Telangana government immediately and a compliance report was to be submitted to the Commission by 5 pm on Tuesday, the letter said.

Interestingly, according to officials, the State government had already released over Rs.2,400 crore to be paid to about 6.65 lakh farmers before the ECI orders came.