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Continuing with their own brand of local governance, the sarpanch's (head of local self-government body) post was auctioned for a record Rs 625,000 by the voters in Mutyalampadu village in the coastal district of Guntur in Andhra Pradesh.
A rich farmer Mulagundla Sekhara Reddy 'bought' the post on behalf of his mother M Venkamma.
The auction was held on the eve of the closure of nominations for the gram panchayat (local self-government body) polls on Saturday when the villagers, cutting across political affiliations, gathered at the village square and put up the post of sarpanch for auction.
This was third consecutive occasion when the post was auctioned.
The first time was in 1989 when the post was 'sold' to C Venkata Reddy for Rs 102,000. In 1995, Velpula Venkata Reddy bought it for Rs 325,000.
The money collected through previous auctions was utilised for development work in the village and it will be no different this time too.
Among the projects the money will go into is a protected water supply scheme.
The new sarpanch Venkamma, who was 'elected unanimously', assured that she would set up a village development committee to oversee the utilisation of the money.
In Narsingapadu, which falls in the same district, villagers auctioned the sarpanch's post to Bobbala Ramachandra Reddy for Rs 420,011.
The highest bidder was allowed to nominate his supporters as panchayat ward members while the auction amount would be utilised for renovation of the local temple.
Nominations for the posts of 21,442 sarpanchs and 208,335 ward members closed on Saturday (August 4). The elections would be held in three phases later in August.
Incidentally, since the polls are held on a 'non-party' basis, the state government had announced incentives ranging between Rs 15,000 to Rs 50,000 to gram panchayats for electing their sarpanchs unanimously.
The State Election Commission (SEC) is compiling data on the number of gram panchayats that elected their sarpanchs and/or ward members unanimously.
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