Vijayawada: Government whip and Gannavaram MLA Yarlagadda Venkata Rao on Wednesday urged Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu to defer gram panchayat elections in nine villages of Vijayawada Rural mandal and conduct civic polls only after their proposed merger with the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC). Venkata Rao said he had requested the Chief Minister to withhold Panchayat elections in these villages and complete the merger process first. He added that Panchayat officials had been instructed not to proceed with the reservation exercise for these villages in view of the proposed merger. If the GVMC proposal does not materialise, the villages should at least be merged with the existing VMC, he added. The MLA said Rs 35 crore has been sanctioned for the Enikepadu underpass expansion and Rs 36 crore for the Eluru Canal regulator development.