Telangana: Villagers raise objections over sarpanch nominations by migrants, threaten to boycott polls

Residents of Danthelaboru SC Colony in Paloncha allege that migrant candidates falsely claimed ST status using improper caste certificates to contest the reserved sarpanch post. Villagers demand an enquiry and warn they will boycott the elections if the nominations are not withdrawn.

Kothagudem: The residents of Danthelaboru SC Colony gram panchayat in Paloncha mandal have raised objections over the nomination filed for sarpanch post by some candidates who migrated from Chhattisgarh.

They alleged that though the candidates belong to the BC community, they falsely claimed that they belong to the ST community. Former sarpanch Gaddala Ramesh and others wanted an enquiry to be conducted into the matter.

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According to them, there are 609 voters in the gram panchayat and majority of them belong to the SC community. There is only one ST family in the village and a candidate from that family was elected as sarpanch in the past, as the sarpanch post has been reserved for STs.

The migrant candidates filed the nominations with caste certificates signed by the gazetted officers, though the caste certificate should be issued by the tahsildar. Some leaders with vested interests got the nominations approved with the help of the returning officer, they alleged.

Ramesh questioned how the RO could accept the caste certificate with only gazetted signatures without a certificate issued by the tahsildar. He appealed to the MRO, RDO and district Collector to take action against those behind the fake certificates and the RO.

The villagers warned that if the candidates who filed nominations with fake caste certificates failed to withdraw their nominations, the entire village would boycott the elections.