Vote auctioning is a common feature in elections where and liquor money played its hand, what was rampant in Assembly, parliament has now become true of panchayat polls in Andhra Pradesh. Even as the state election commissioner warns of serious action there is no break in reports of vote auctioning for panchayat sarpanch posts.

The modus operandi is simple Candidates bid for number of votes at impromptu gram sabhas and the amount allegedly goes into the kitty of village committees for development of either village tank, school or even the temple .One wondered why they needed funds for them when Government spent in crore for the same under different heads .TDP has campaigned against such vote auctioning in the past and plans to take up a persistant program in that regard says senior TDP leaders.

A village in Nalgonda district yesterday auctioned its 1500 votes for Rs.10 lakhs and candidate also paid an advance of Rs.10, 000 as well.