Koraput’s Kotia gram panchayat has been the focal point of Odisha’s border dispute with neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. The panchayat was in news recently when Andhra officials tried to conduct panchayat elections in the area. Ever since, sparring between the two states over this gram panchayat has intensified.
Kotia is back in focus with the process of panchayat elections having been initiated in Odisha and the government keen to ensure peaceful conduct of polls in this panchayat which is part of Koraput’s Pottangi tehsil. A peaceful panchayat election is also crucial to strengthening grassroots democracy in Kotia and proving to the world that it is an integral part of Odisha.
What is heartening is that major political parties of the state have decided to put up a rare show of unity and field consensus candidates for the posts of zilla parishad, sarpanch, samiti and ward members in the Kotia panchayat. This will rule out chances of contest and possible frictions which the officials from Andhra Pradesh may try to exploit.
Reports from Koraput suggest that such a decision was taken recently at an all-party committee meeting in the southern Odisha district. Leaders of Biju Janata Dal (BJD), BJP and Congress decided unanimously to select candidates for the posts ahead of the polls. The meeting also decided that all candidates for the posts will be selected from Kotia panchayat. The candidates will be selected unopposed and uncontested. More importantly, the selected candidates will have no political affiliation. The chosen ZP member will look after the political and administrative activities in Kotia.
The leaders joined forces to prevent Andhra Pradesh government from creating disturbances in Kotia. They believe that they can thwart the designs of the neighbouring state government by sending out the message of unity. The leaders felt that their twin objectives were defeating the designs of Andhra Pradesh in Kotia and ensuring the development of the region simultaneously.
The district administration will hold polls for one samiti member, one sarpanch and 13 ward member posts in the disputed panchayat on February 18. The ZP election of Kotia which falls under Zone 1 under Pottangi block will also be held the same day. The panchayat has 5,197 registered voters.
Even as the move of Odisha’s political parties seems to be a fitting reply to the Andhra government’s bid to disrupt peace in the area by holding panchayat elections there in February last year, it is equally important to generate mass awareness over the issue to create public opinion. It is this lack of awareness among the tribals of the area which Andhra officials have been exploiting so far. They have been trying to lure them with various kinds of financial benefits. However, once people realize that all this is being done with an ulterior motive, they will refuse to fall into this trap.
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