AP Border villages may lose double voting privilege

By M H Ahssan

They are neither here nor there. Or rather, at both places. These 12 villages between Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh enjoy the power of voting in both the states due to a border dispute between the two states.

But now, the villagers are all set to lose this privilege. District returning officer Pradeep Kalbhor has promptly brought the issue to the notice of election commission, and orders allowing the villagers to vote in only one of the two states are expected to issued before the polling.

The 12 villages are Paramdoli, Paramdoli Tanda, Padmavati, Antapur, Indiranagar, Lendijada, Yesapur, Shankarlodhi, Maharajguda, Kotha (Bujruk), Kotha (Khurd), Mukuddamguad and Lendigunda. All are located exactly along the Maharashtra-AP border in Jiwti tehsil of the district and are matter of unresolved dispute over possession between the two states since two decades.

While Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh are in a tug-of-war, the two governments over period of time went on to endow the villages with necessary amenities under various government schemes. Thanks to two-way flow of favours, these villages have two schools, two fair price shops, and people here avail advantages of government schemes from both the sides. These villages also have two gram panchayats of both the governments and have elected sarpanches and gram panchayat members for either side. Moreover, the voters here have two voting cards - one of Maharashtra and other of Andhra Pradesh, and power to vote on either sides. Since the general elections of 1991, they have been voting for parliamentary and assembly elections of both the states.

Earlier, these villages were part of Maharashtra, but the government gave up these villages in the year 1989 and handed them to AP government, which included these villages in its Adilabad district. But as it was brought to the notice of Maharashtra government that the decision regarding such handing over of its territory to other state could not be made at state level, the earlier decision of transfer of villages to AP was stayed in 1995. During the BJP-Sena government in Maharashtra in 1996, the cabinet revoked the decision of transfer of these villages to AP. Against the decision of the Maharashtra government, the AP government moved its High Court, and later this move of AP was challenged by the Maharashtra government in the Supreme Court. The apex court had ordered the Union government to take final decision in this regard, and the matter of ownership of these villages still lingers in balance.

Now that polling date for first phase of general election is a mere two weeks away, the total of 2,120 voters (Male-1083/ Female-1037) in these 12 villages are geared up to cast three votes, as the Legislative Assembly elections of AP is being carried out with general elections. The candidates of Chandrapur parliamentary constituency of Maharashtra, along with the candidates of Adilabad parliamentary constituency and Khanpur assembly constituency in AP, are wooing the voters here through election campaign. With no final instruction in this regard issued yet, Maharashtra has proposed five polling booths, while AP has proposed three polling booths in the disputed villages. Voters exercising franchise for candidates of Maharashtra will be inked on the index finger of their right hand, while the same voter will be inked on the index finger of the left hand after casting the vote for AP candidates, as had been done in the past.

“We have repeatedly brought the issue to the notice of the election commission and it too is trying to resolve this problem. The issue once again cropped up in the meeting of election commissioner with the returning officers on Wednesday, and higher-ups have assured to issue concrete instruction in this regard in coming days,” said Pradeep Kalbhor, district returning officer.

SP Chhering Dorje, who also was present in the meeting said, “It is expected that the Election Commission might issue instruction to resolve the problem in all such cases.”