Andhra Govt Holds Panchayat Polls In Kotia Despite Odisha’s Petition In Supreme Court

Koraput: Notwithstanding a petion filed by the Odisha government in the Supreme Court, the Andhra Pradesh government went ahead with conducting panchayat elections in Kotia of Pottangi block in Koraput district on Saturday morning.

Besides Kotia, the neighbouring state has also held panchayat polls in some border villages of Odisha in Ganjam and Malkangiri districts.

According to reports, the polling began at Patasunera (renamed as Patuchenuru by the Andhra government) in Kotia panchayat at 6 am.

To ensure participation of more people in the polls, the Vizianagaram district administration arranged several passenger vehicles for each booth.

Although the Pottangi BDO and tehsildar tried to dissuade people against polling, long queues of voters were seen at each booth at Patasunera village. The polling will conclude at 3 pm.

It may be mentioned that the Andhra Pradesh government has constituted a panchayat comprising five hamlets of Patasunera village namely Madakara, Daliamba, Barnapadu, Patusunera and Konadara and two villages Chikaparu and Balenga Belesa of Vizianagaram district.

On Friday, Koraput Collector Abdaal Muhammed Akhtar had written to his Vizianagaram counterpart, M Hari Jawaharlal, requesting the latter to desist from holding elections in Kotia panchayat as the matter is pending in the Supreme Court.

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