Kakinada: Elections to the Kakinada Municipal Corporation will be held for only 48 divisions instead of the 50. The State Election Commission has suspended elections for two divisions, Nos. 42 and 48, located in the three merged villages -Swamy Nagar, Teachers Colony and S. Achutapuram - and issued election schedule for 48 divisions. After hectic discussions with legal experts, in the aftermath of the High Court directive to hold elections excluding the three merged villages, the SEC issued the notification on Saturday night.
Earlier on August 3, the SEC had issued notification for conduct of ordinary elections to the members of all 50 wards in Kakinada Municipal Corporation. However, one Gummadi Srinu Babu and two others challenged the order issued by the government on delimitation of wards by including Teachers Colony of Ganganapalli village, Swaminagar and S. Achutapuram, consisting of wards 42 and 48 of the KMC, fixing the number of seats reserved for SC, ST, BC and Women in KMC by including the three villages.
In pursuance to the interim orders of the High Court, the SEC suspended elections for 42 and 48 divisions. KMC commissioner S. Aleem Basha said that the elections would be held for remaining 48 wards as per the schedule and as per declared reservations. With this order, voters of the three merged villages have expressed their displeasure at the polls not being conducted in their divisions.
They said that they have been paying taxes to the KMC for the past four years. Meanwhile, Kakinada former MLA Mootha Gopalakrishna welcomed the SEC decision for conducting elections to 48 divisions. He told this reporter that after rectifying any technical glitches, polls to the remaining two divisions may be conducted in the future. It may be remembered that there haven’t been elections to the KMC for the past seven years and the funds like general funds and also smart city funds are being misused due to lack of accountability.
