Telangana Assembly Polls: ECI Halts ‘Rythu Bandhu Scheme’

The Election Commission on India (ECI) on Monday withdrew permission for the Telangana government to distribute financial aid to farmers for Rabi crops under the Rythu Bandhu Scheme.

This decision came after state minister T. Harish Rao violated the poll code by publicly announcing the disbursement.

The ECI, in a notification, stated that no disbursement under the scheme would be allowed until the model code of conduct in Telangana ceases to apply in all its forms.

The notification emphasized that Minister Harish Rao not only violated the provisions of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) but also the specified conditions by publicizing the release under the Rythu Bandhu Scheme.

According to the MCC rule, ministers and authorities are prohibited from announcing any financial grants or promises once elections are announced by the commission.

“T Harish Rao, Minister of Finance and Health and Family Welfare, government of Telangana, has made statements regarding the disbursement of the Rythu Bandhu Scheme by a particular time before the date of the poll, which is widely reported in newspapers and local media on November 26, 2023. The Commission has observed that Rao, who is also a contesting candidate sponsored by the BRS Party from 33- Siddipet Assembly Constituency in ongoing general elections to LA Telangana 2023, a star campaigner of the party and also the Minister of Telangana, has not only violated the provisions of MCC contained in Para VII of the Model Code of Conduct but also conditions laid down as above by publicising the release under the scheme and thereby disturbed the level playing field in the on-going election process,” the ECI stated.

The Rythu Bandhu Scheme involves the direct transfer of Rs 5,000 per acre per farmer each season to their bank accounts. This scheme has been a focal point in the ongoing election campaigns of major political parties. Six days before the assembly polls, the ECI had initially approved the Telangana government’s disbursement of the Rythu Bandhu incentive, with the condition that the DBT scheme would not be affected during the silence period and poll day in the state.

Leaders of the BRS Party, in their election campaign, have emphasized that the Rythu Bandhu and other schemes have positively impacted agriculture and allied sectors.

The state is scheduled to go to the polls on November 30, with a three-cornered contest between the ruling BRS Party, the Congress, and a resurgent BJP. In the 2018 Assembly elections, the BRS (formerly TRS) won 88 of the 119 seats, securing 47.4 percent of the total vote share, while the Congress won 19 seats, and the BJP did not secure any seats.