It may sound strange, but since the first election to the panchayat raj institutions, one of the three members getting elected from ward number three of Yelasangi Gram Panchayat (GP) in Aland taluk in Kalaburagi district meets with accidental death or commits suicide within days of being elected. However, those getting elected in the byelections in the vacated seat live to complete the term of membership.
Although the gram panchayat elections are fought with vigour in almost all the other seats, the filing of nomination papers for the three seats in ward number three was lukewarm this time also. Out of the five persons who filed their nomination papers, two withdrew, ensuring the unanimous election of the other three.
People of the village are apprehensive to even talk about the unusual incidents that have happened in what they call “the cursed ward”. People like Motiram Chavan, outgoing president of the Yelasangi GP, who reluctantly to spoke to a group of presspersons, said that the people of the village and the GP had conducted special pujas in the village temple and on the premises of the gram panchayats. However, the death of one of the three members elected from ward number three had not stopped. “We are worried,” he said. Sharanu Dharmanna Mang, another villager, said that a situation of fear prevails in the village. “We don’t know who would die this time and what would be the cause of the death,” he said.
However, Padmavathi S. Singhe, who has been elected unopposed from ward number three, is fearless. “I do not believe in all this superstition…I know people have died and it could be due to normal reasons. Why should so much importance be attached to it (unusual deaths),” she said. The other two members — Buddhamma Babu Chandarki, the daughter of Babu Siddaramappa Chandarki who met with accidental death after being elected from the same ward, and Sharanappa Hussaini Takkalki who was elected unopposed — were not available for their reactions.
Nine persons elected from ward number three of the gram panchayat have died so far. Babugowda Srimanthrao Patil, Babu Siddramappa Chandarki, Gaddeppa Kallappa Gongan, Mahantappa M. Patil, Neelamma S. Zalki, Kumar L. Gongan, Khandappa L. Balundgi and Guru Bhimram S. Vache and an unnamed ninth member have died after being elected from the ward.
