AMARAVATI: Elections to the local bodies in Andhra Pradesh should be held within in one month as per the directions of the High Court, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has said.

During a review meeting as part of Spandana programme here on Monday, the Chief Minister said that the concerned officials will approach the State Election Commission on Wednesday to inform that they are prepared for the MPTC, ZPTC, panchayat and municipal elections within the stipulated time by the High Court.

An ordinance has been promulgated to bring about changes in the Panchayat Raj Act and also for completely eradicating the influence of money and liquor in elections. The Chief Minister directed the police machinery to be firm in the conduct of the elections by taking it up as a challenge. He said that any person found distributing money during the elections would be debarred and also sent to jail for a period of three years.

The District Superintendents of Police would be entrusted with the responsibility of curtailing the flow of liquor and money during elections. The services of Police Mitras and Mahila police in the villages would be fully utilized for the purpose. The Chief Minister underlined the need for electing a person who has rendered service to the people by being available to them instead of electing a big shot who squanders away money for getting elected.

The Chief Minister said the ordinance was brought in to provide an opportunity to sincere and devoted persons to get elected as people’s representatives. The local boy elections in the state should turn out to be an eye-opener to the whole country, he added.

The Chief Minister said that an App has to be created to curb irregularities in the local body elections as was being done in the general elections and it should be ensured that the data reaches the police and election officials who will swing into action. He said the App should be made available to the Police Mitras, Mahila Mitras, the volunteers in the village secretariats and to all the people so that all the data on all irregularities are stored in it. The ordinance copy should be prominently displayed in all village secretariats, he added.

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