It is an open secret that contesting elections has become a costly proposition and one has to spend in lakhs and crores to win the seat, whether it is an election to the gram panchayat or mandal and zilla parishad, municipality and the state assembly.
The voters have become so much corrupt that they are reluctant to come to the polling station unless the contesting candidates pay them cash.
The cost of each vote, which was in a couple of hundreds in the past, has now gone up to Rs 5,000 to even Rs 10,000, apart from other inducements like liquor, biryani and other freebies.
However, no contestant of any party will admit that he has spend so much money to win an election. If he or she says anything openly, it become a big controversy though everybody knows that the contesting candidates shell down lakhs or crores of rupees money.
A few years ago, former Andhra Pradesh assembly speaker late Kodela Sivaprasada Rao landed in soup by admitting before a television channel that he had so spend crores of rupees to win Narsaraopet assembly seat.
On Tuesday, a YSR Congress party municipal councillor’s husband from Kuppam municipality also made a similar confession, rather publicly, saying he had paid Rs 5,000 per vote to the people during the municipal elections last year to see that his wife got elected as councillor.
Speaking at the general body meeting of the Kuppam municipality, YSRCP leader and councillor Devaki’s husband Rangaiah said he had to shell down huge money to get his wife elected as the councillor.
“We paid Rs 5,000 per vote to the voters in Kuppam. Yet, there have been no works and no payments to the works done earlier. We are not able to do even small drainage works in the constituency,” Rangaiah said.
He said though works were approved by the council, they are not being executed due to lack of release of funds. Many other councillors agreed wit him and requested the officials to release the money.
