Election body warns cancellation if posts auctioned in upcoming panchayat polls

The Telangana State Election Commission Tuesday took a serious note of reports that posts of sarpanch and ward members in the coming panchayat polls were being auctioned and warned that such 'unanimous' elections would be cancelled. The State Election Commission will cancel the unanimous auction where there is a prima facie case of bribing/undue influence is involved for unanimous election or posts are auctioned and renotify election afresh in such Gram Panchayats, the SEC said in a release.

The state will have a three-phase election for the 12,732-gram panchayats. The first phase which began Monday would end on January 21, while the second from January 11 to 25 and the final phase from January 11 to January 30. The SEC issued a notification on January 1 for the polls.

(With inputs from agencies.)