Andhra announces incentives on unanimous polls

Amaravati, Jan 26 : The Andhra Pradesh government on Tuesday announced attractive financial incentives up to Rs 20 lakh in the forthcoming panchayat polls to encourage unanimous elections and thereby enable the gram panchayats to concentrate on the developmental work.
“The government with a view to encourage unanimous elections to the post of sarpanches and members of gram panchayats issued incentive awards for such the gram panchayats (GPs) where the elections to the office of the sarpanches and ward members is unanimous,” said chief secretary Aditya Nath Das.
Unanimous elections in gram panchayats with population less than 2,000 will receive a financial incentive of Rs 5 lakh, GPs with a population between 2,001 to 5,000 will receive Rs 10 lakh.
Likewise, GPs with a population between 5,001 to 10,000 will receive an incentive of Rs 15 lakh for unanimous election.
Those GPs with a population above 10,000 will receive Rs 20 lakh.
Incidentally, a government order highlighting incentives for peaceful unanimous elections did not go into the public as it was issued before the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic, prompting its reissue on Tuesday.