Sarpanch aspirant attempts suicide in Telangana over failure

An aspirant for the post of sarpanch in the coming panchayat polls "attempted suicide" in Jagital district after his attempts to get elected unanimously did not materialise, police said Wednesday.

B Devdas, a Sarpanch candidate for Obulapur tanda (hamlet) in Mallapur mandal, consumed pesticide on Monday and was rushed to a hospital, they said. Some elderly people of the village had reportedly passed a resolution on electing their Sarpanch unanimously, if the candidate deposits Rs 5 lakh.

Devdas paid Rs 2 lakh as initial installment, which he borrowed from many people and by reportedly selling his wife's mangalsutra (chain), police said.

The villagers then announced Devdas as elected as Sarpanch.

But, some people objected to the unanimous election and allegedly "threatened" Devdas to pay the balance amount following which he tried to commit suicide, police said based on a complaint lodged by man's wife.

A case under IPC section 384 (extortion) was registered.

The Telangana State Election Commission Tuesday took a serious note of reports that posts of sarpanch and ward members in the coming panchayat polls were being auctioned and warned that such 'unanimous' elections would be cancelled.

The state will have a three-phase elections for the 12,732 gram panchayats.

The first phase which began Monday would end on January 21, while the second from January 11 to 25 and the final phase from January 11 to January 30.