With under 90 voters, two tribal hamlets prepare for panchayat elections in Kothagudem

Hidden in the forests of Kothagudem district, Adavi Ramaram and Donga Togu — Telangana’s smallest gram panchayats — go to the polls on December 17, where just a few dozen votes will determine the outcome

Kothagudem: Tucked away deep inside the forests of Allapalli mandal in Kothagudem district are two of Telangana’s smallest gram panchayats, where elections are as intimate as village gatherings and every vote carries weight.

Adavi Ramaram, with just 85 voters, is among the smallest gram panchayats in the State, followed closely by Donga Togu with 88 voters. Both adivasi hamlets will go to the polls in the third phase of gram panchayat elections on December 17. Each village has four wards and lies in a remote forested stretch, far from neighbouring habitations.

The two gram panchayats were carved out during the previous BRS regime as part of an exercise to upgrade tribal hamlets and Lambadi thandas for better local administration. With no gram panchayat within a radius of nearly 10 kilometres, Adavi Ramaram and Donga Togu were granted independent status. Both villages also have mandal parishad primary schools.

Donga Togu had drawn attention in the previous elections as the smallest gram panchayat, with just 44 voters then. Over the years, the electorate has doubled.

In Adavi Ramaram, of the 85 voters, 45 are men and 40 are women. Donga Togu has 48 men and 40 women voters. Though efforts were made to elect sarpanches unanimously in both the villages, the contestants chose to test their strength at the ballot box.

In Adavi Ramaram, BRS-supported Payam Sridevi, CPI-supported Payam Kantha and Congress-supported Payam Suryakantha are in the fray for the sarpanch post. Reflecting the close-knit nature of the hamlet, the candidates and voters are closely related to one another.

At Donga Togu, the sarpanch contest is between BRS-supported Bachali Papa Rao and CPI (ML) Mass Line-supported Esam Narayana. With barely a few dozen votes deciding the outcome, both the villages are gearing up for an election where margins will be narrow and participation quite personal.