Naveen Patnaik questions Odisha government’s 'silence' on Andhra's poll notification for disputed Kotia villages

Andhra Pradesh announced panchayat elections in three villages of Kotia Gram Panchayat: Phagunasineri, Ganjeipadar and Phatusineri. The notification matters because Odisha and Andhra Pradesh both claim authority over parts of Kotia, making any local election politically and administratively sensitive.

The villages are within Koraput district’s Kotia Gram Panchayat. The article identifies the proposed exercise as panchayat elections, meaning elections for local rural governance. Naveen Patnaik said the notification showed Andhra Pradesh had proceeded despite Odisha’s claims and questioned why Odisha’s BJP government had remained silent.

The dispute is unresolved in court. Odisha filed a fresh suit in the Supreme Court in January 2022, and the matter remains under consideration. Odisha minister Suresh Pujari said the state government was prepared to thwart provocative attempts by Andhra Pradesh, but the article does not state whether the elections were later held or cancelled.

A gram panchayat is a local rural governing body responsible for representing residents and managing community administration. Its elections can affect who exercises local political authority. Kotia Gram Panchayat is important because it sits at the centre of a decades-old dispute between Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.

The article says Kotia Gram Panchayat contains 28 villages. Odisha and Andhra Pradesh both claim their right over 21 of those villages. Andhra Pradesh’s notification covered three of them: Phagunasineri, Ganjeipadar and Phatusineri. Holding elections there could therefore signal competing claims to local authority.

The dispute has not been legally settled. Odisha’s fresh suit, filed in the Supreme Court in January 2022, remains under consideration. Naveen Patnaik asked what recommendations the 16-member Kotia Committee, formed in 2025, had made and what action followed. The article gives no further details about the committee’s recommendations.

The article gives two related figures. Kotia Gram Panchayat has 28 villages in total, and Odisha and Andhra Pradesh both claim authority over 21 of them. Those 21 villages are the core area of the territorial dispute described in the report.

Andhra Pradesh’s election notification concerns three specific villages: Phagunasineri, Ganjeipadar and Phatusineri. They are part of Kotia Gram Panchayat and therefore fall within the wider group of disputed villages identified in the article. The report does not state whether these three are included among the 21 jointly claimed, although its wording places them within the disputed Kotia context.

The legal dispute remains active. Odisha filed a fresh case in the Supreme Court in January 2022, and it is still under consideration. The figures show why the election announcement matters: local elections in three villages intersect with competing claims involving most of the panchayat.

Odisha and Andhra Pradesh both assert rights over 21 villages in Kotia Gram Panchayat. The article calls this a decades-old dispute and says the matter is pending before the Supreme Court. It does not provide the historical documents, boundary decisions or administrative events that created the competing claims.

The immediate conflict concerns local administration. Andhra Pradesh notified panchayat elections in Phagunasineri, Ganjeipadar and Phatusineri. Naveen Patnaik argued that the announcement challenged Odisha’s territorial integrity, especially because Odisha and Andhra Pradesh claim overlapping authority in Kotia. Odisha leaders have also used the slogan “Go Back Andhra,” according to the report.

The dispute’s legal basis remains unresolved in the reported proceedings. Odisha filed a fresh suit in January 2022, and the Supreme Court is still considering it. Therefore, the article establishes the competing claims and their age, but not the precise historical reason each state gives for claiming the villages.

If Andhra Pradesh conducts elections in villages Odisha also claims, residents could face competing claims about which administration represents them. Local officials, elected bodies and public records could become contested. Such a situation could also make everyday government services and accountability harder to navigate, although the article does not report these consequences occurring.

The immediate mechanism is political and administrative overlap. Andhra Pradesh’s notification names three villages inside Kotia Gram Panchayat, while Odisha says the wider territorial issue remains unresolved. Naveen Patnaik described the announcement as troubling and questioned whether Odisha’s government was yielding to pressure from its political allies.

The legal position remains unsettled because Odisha’s 2022 suit is still before the Supreme Court. Odisha Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari said the government was prepared to thwart provocative attempts by Andhra Pradesh. The article does not state whether elections were held, how residents responded or what court action followed.

The Odisha government is responsible for defending the state’s territorial position and responding to Andhra Pradesh’s notification. Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi leads the state government. Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari said Odisha was prepared to thwart provocative attempts by the neighbouring state.

Andhra Pradesh’s government issued the notification for elections in three Kotia villages. The article identifies the Telugu Desam Party, or TDP, as the party governing Andhra Pradesh. It also says TDP is a crucial ally of the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre. This political relationship is central to Patnaik’s criticism.

Naveen Patnaik, the BJD president and Odisha’s Leader of the Opposition, accused the BJP government of silence and asked whether dependence on the TDP explained its response. He recalled BJP promises that a “double-engine” government would resolve Kotia. The article does not state the Andhra government’s detailed justification for the notification.

In India, state boundaries and territory are determined through constitutional and legal processes, including Parliament’s power to alter state areas and the Supreme Court’s authority to decide disputes between governments. A local election notification does not itself settle ownership or change a state boundary. The applicable legal record and court decisions determine the final position.

The Supreme Court can hear a dispute between states, examine their claims and issue orders or a final judgment. While a case is pending, the court may also consider requests for interim directions, depending on the pleadings and circumstances. Those general legal details are not described in the article, so they should not be read as a report of any specific order in Kotia.

Here, Odisha filed a fresh suit in January 2022, and the article says it remains under consideration. Andhra Pradesh’s notification has therefore occurred while the legal dispute continues. The report gives no final judgment or interim ruling, leaving the territorial question unresolved in the account provided.