बेबाक · Editorial
Andhra Pradesh's Local Polls Must Not Become a Border Weapon in Kotia
Andhra Pradesh's large rural and civic polls deserve credit, but holding them in contested Kotia villages demands restraint, coordination and the citizen's safety first.
A large democratic exercise
Andhra Pradesh is preparing for a very large round of grassroots democracy. State Election Commissioner Anil Chandra Punetha has announced that elections to 659 Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies and 9,829 Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies will be held on November 3. Separately, 25,809 nominations have been filed for the civic polls. They include 1,358 for mayor and chairperson posts across municipal corporations, municipalities and nagar panchayats, submitted during the three-day nomination process from October 16 to 18. These numbers show civic participation that any republic should welcome. Panchayats and municipalities decide drains, drinking water, ration shops and roads. Their vitality is the measure of whether constitutional decentralisation is real or ornamental.
The trouble at Kotia
One corner of this exercise is not routine. Reporting from Koraput district notes that fears have once again risen over elections in Kotia panchayat. The trigger was the Andhra Pradesh government's notification for Zilla Parishad and Samiti polls. Odisha's Leader of Opposition has written to the state's Chief Minister expressing "grave concern" over Andhra Pradesh's decision to announce panchayat elections in these villages. The phrase "once again" matters. It signals that the status of these villages is a recurring point of friction between two states. The underlying question of jurisdiction is contested, and this newspaper will not pretend to settle it. What can be judged is how two governments conduct themselves while it remains unsettled.
Both sides, fairly stated
Andhra Pradesh's position deserves a fair hearing. Where a state's election machinery counts residents as its voters, it can argue that it has a duty not to leave them without elected local representation. A State Election Commission cannot simply skip voters on its own rolls. The concern raised from Odisha is equally serious. The fear is that elections conducted by a neighbouring state in villages Odisha regards as its own could create facts on the ground and weaken its claim. Both positions treat the vote as more than a vote. That is precisely the danger. When a ballot box becomes a marker of sovereignty, the households of Kotia stop being citizens choosing their local representatives. They become pieces in an inter-state contest they did not start.
Peaceful polls are the minimum
Commissioner Punetha has directed officials to ensure peaceful, free and impartial polls, with adequate security for candidates and voters. That instruction is correct, and it should apply with special force in Kotia. Free polls mean no resident is pressured, by either administration, to vote or to stay away as a test of loyalty. Impartiality means candidates in the disputed villages enjoy the same protection as candidates anywhere else in Andhra Pradesh. Odisha's government has an equal duty. Protest should go through formal channels and constitutional forums, not through mobilisation at polling booths. Neither state's officials should come anywhere near voters on November 3 in a way that could be read as intimidation.
A practical way forward
Three steps are feasible before November 3. First, the chief secretaries of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha should agree on a written protocol for the Koraput border villages. It should cover police deployment, the movement of officials and a shared incident hotline, so that no clash arises from confusion. Second, the Andhra Pradesh State Election Commission should publish the polling-station list and security plan for these villages in advance, leaving no room for rumour in Odisha or among observers. Third, both governments should state publicly that participation or abstention will not affect any resident's access to rations, pensions or schemes from either side. Jurisdiction will be decided where it lawfully must be. Until then, Kotia's residents are owed one thing: that they will be served, not used.
A ballot is meant to settle who governs a village, not which state owns it; using one for the other cheapens both.
What this editorial rests on
Drawn from our live multi-newsroom feed — read the reporting at source.
An editorial is the considered opinion of the FarziUPSC desk, argued from the sourced reporting above and written under our published persona, बेबाक. We name institutions, not parties. If we are wrong, we will say so. How we work →