Telangana

panchayat polls

elections

A man in avillage tried enforcing accountability on voters by insisting on returning the money he had paid to them to vote for his wife in. A video of his door-to-door ‘collection campaign’ went viral on social media groups. The man succeeded in getting his money back from few, while many refused to return it.The episode is said to have taken place in Arvapalli block's Jajireddygudem village in Suryapet district. U Prabhakar encouraged his wife to contest for, which were held recently, from one of the wards in the village panchayat.The village has nearly 670 votes but Prabhakar’s wife faced a miserable defeat by polling only 24 votes. Pabhakar is said to have paid sums ranging from Rs 300 to Rs 600 to some voters to influence them in his wife’s favour.A day after the defeat, Prabhakar embarked on the mission to at least get back his money. One of the villagers approached by him argued that he had no money to return. But, insisting on the return of the money, the contestant’s hubby offered 10 salutes to the voter.“Some people returned the same notes I had given them. They did not even touch my money. Please return my money,” he pleaded. In his bid to get rid of the nagging, one of the voters, at last, promised to return the money later. Hapless Prabhakar then moved on to the next door.Some women in the family were also seen arguing with him, asking if he can bring all those who did not vote for his wife and collect money from them.The time has come when voters cannot go unaccountable, though several parties often tell them to happily take the money offered by rival parties but cast them the vote. The episode also reflects the success rate of the anti-bribe campaign by various agencies among the electorate, let alone the fear for law.