Caught in Maharashtra, Telangana border row, 14 villages grapple with ‘privilege’ of voting twice

Subject: Geography

Section: Mapping

Context:

About 4,000 voters from 14 villages along the border between Maharashtra and Telangana could be the only ones in India to have the “privilege” to vote twice in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections — in Maharashtra for the Chandrapur constituency in the first phase on April 19, and then in Telangana for the Adilabad constituency in the fourth phase on May 13.

More on news:

With their villages under two panchayats in both Maharashtra’s Chandrapur and Telangana’s Adilabad, each resident has two voter IDs, Aadhaar cards etc.

Boundary Dispute:

The territorial dispute over the 14 villages (called Sade Bara Gaon in Maharashtra) that fall in the Kerameri tehsil of Adilabad in Telangana and Jivati tehsil of Chandrapur in Maharashtra, dates back to 1956, when the state of Andhra Pradesh was formed.
The 14 villages come under two gram panchayats — Parandoli and Antapur — which are over 30 km apart.
The villagers have two voter ID cards each with their names listed in the constituencies of both the states.
Each of the villagers also have two ration cards, Aadhaar cards, MNREGA cards, caste certificates and other documents — one each from Maharashtra and Telangana, based on their respective classifications — which enable them to avail benefits of social welfare schemes from both states.
As the villagers, who mostly belong to the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) communities, have ration cards from both states, they can also avail ration benefits as well as other schemes being implemented by both states.