Tamil Nadu village auctions panchayat seats to raise money for temple

It seems like the people of Nadukuppam village panchayat have decided to raise money for social welfare and other development works by auctioning off the panchayat posts, instead of electing their leaders.

In Tamil Nadu's Cuddalore district, locals in a village auction panchayat seats to raise money for temple and social welfare.

Shocking as it may be, it seems like the people of Nadukuppam village panchayat have decided to raise money for social welfare and other development works by auctioning off the panchayat posts, instead of electing their leaders.

The highest bidder gets the post, and if he or she pays up on time, no other contender files nomination and the candidate gets a walkover.

The scheme came to light after a visual of recent auction of two panchayat seats surfaced in media.

The visual shows the villagers holding a meeting in a temple to auction the seat of the Panchayat leader for Rs 50 lakh and the associate panchayat leader’s position for Rs 15 lakh. The bid on Panchayat leader post was won by Sakthivel, a person who claimed to be from AIADMK, while the man who won the associate's post identified himself as Murugan of DMDK.

Sakthivel had represented the AIADMK and had been elected as the panchayat leader earlier as well.

The two of them are to pay their auctioned amount on or before 15th of this month. The senior members of the village have stated that if the two pay up the amount then no one else from the village will contest for these positions.

At the beginning of the auction, a villager read a joint statement and agenda of the meeting, in which he claimed: "The money collected will be used for the construction of a temple in the village and the welfare of the people."

AIADMK spokesperson Kovai Sathyan has denied the role of his party man in the alleged auction. Speaking to India Today TV, the AIADMK spokesperson claimed that he could not see any person related to his party in the video.

"I saw the video, nowhere in the video, we could point out a personal AIADMK or any other party, so I would say that allegation is baseless. And whatever the context the video was on it's all about constructing a temple in the particular village and the contribution towards that village," AIADMK spokesperson Kovai Sathyan said.

He added that claims that AIADMK was involved in any such auction were work of the opposition parties who were ill-prepared to handle local body polls. "There are rumour mongers and there are people whose spine is still chilled with the fact that local body election is being announced. I would say that opposition would do all these things because they know that they have to face a mammoth task. I would say that we have no role in it and it's all baseless allegations."

Meanwhile, a man named Senthil Arumugam has demanded that the state election commission take action against those involved in the auction of the Panchayat leader and associate panchayat leader post.

In a complaint given to the state election commissioner, the complainant has stated that the auction is no different from cash for votes and has demanded that a probe be conducted in this regard.

He has also sought the cancellation of the polls in the constituency to ensure a free and fair election. All the people who were present in the auction, who participated in the auction should also be punished requested the complainant.