Opinion: Why violence during Telangana Panchayat elections is concerning

This loss of fairness in elections is not new, but is alarming nevertheless with deteriorating conditions of policing and public order in Telangana.

Hyderabad: The just concluded gram panchyayat elections in Telangana have witnessed all kinds of violations from distribution of gifts, allegations of wrong counting and rigging, complaints of black magic performances to election violence.

Local body elections have historically been manipulated using state power. But the open threats of not granting budgets to panchayats, attempts to kill opposition candidates is a serious failure of policing and conduct of fair elections. Immediately after the election results, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) Sarpanch candidate of Somwarpet, Bitla Balaraju was run over by a tractor by the winning candidate Saibaba Babai.

Balaraju and his wife Ganji Bharati are undergoing treatment in Yashoda Hospital in Hyderabad currently. There have been similar reports of post election violence in different parts of Telangana, with Sarpanch candidates linked to congress party carrying out violence against BRS party workers. By no means these elections are to be termed free and fair elections.

This loss of fairness in elections is not new, but is alarming nevertheless with deteriorating conditions of policing and public order in Telangana. Even with all these incidents, there is a lack of even registering FIRs by the Telangana Police. Opposition leader and BRS working president KT Rama Rao has called out the Telangana Police for their inactions and failure of state to do its basic duty.

The director general of police B Shivadhar Reddy, replying to a media person on these allegations, denied there were any serious violations during the elections, but acknowledged sparse incidents. The role of police in allowing these violence, however small, is important to be questioned. It is rare that any large-scale violence is allowed without their active or passive support.

The loss of democratic values is a serious issue the Indian National Congress actively champions nationally, but when it comes to issues within Telangana, these issues are no more a cause worthy enough for them to fight for. The push to gain electoral control through any means necessary is not a strategy the congress should be supporting, especially when it sees itself as a victim of this process nationally.

There will be consequences of these violence against BRS party workers, but it would depend on how the BRS can handle it and provide for their workers. To their credit BRS has been helping their party workers actively with legal aid, to ensure they are not harassed by the police. But with this form of violence at the grassroots, BRS party workers may be forced to seek safety by moving away from the party too.

Ex-Telangana finance minister and BRS Siddipet MLA Harish Rao has also been critical of what has happened in the local body elections with the active state support used by congress to win the elections. With reports of wrongly counting and declaring congress contestants as winners, KT Rama Rao also stated they would approach courts for a recounting regarding the panchayat elections.

The actions of Congress workers can lead to the rise of more people joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for protection. This is not a new phenomenon and one should be concerned how this will evolve in the near future. The rise of BJP in Telangana is happening with loss of BRS party workers. This is clearly visible in the Northern Telangana regions, where BJP has been increasing its dominance over the years.

If the Congress really wants to strengthen grassroots democracy, then they can’t be ignoring the actions of their party workers. Lack of rule of law and unfair elections with violence are democratic concerns, we should be voicing out, no matter which party is in power. It is unfortunate, there isn’t enough that is being done at a social level to address these issues beyond the political party level.

(Srinivas Kodali is an independent researcher based in Hyderabad)