Andhra Assembly Privileges panel summons SEC

The fight between the Andhra Pradesh government and the state Election Commission has intensified with the AP Assembly Privileges Committee directing the Assembly Secretary to write to SEC Nimmagadda Ramesh, asking him to be available to appear before the panel.

SEC Nimmagadda Ramesh is due for retirement on 31 March, after serving for five years. The Assembly Privileges Committee is looking into the privilege notices given by Ministers Botsa Satyanarayana and Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy against Nimmagadda. Nimmagadda had ordered Peddireddy’s house arrest, but the order was struck down by the High Court.

The two ministers had complained that Nimmagadda’s remarks against them in his letter to the Governor during the panchayat elections amounted to breach of their privileges. The privileges committee headed by Kakani Govardhan Reddy examined the two complaints and held three rounds of meetings on the matter.

In the latest meeting, the committee had directed the Assembly secretary to write to Nimmagadda, asking him to be available for the hearing of the committee in future.

It is now to be seen what Nimmagadda would do once he is summoned by the privileges committee. Ironically for him, no court would like to interfere with the decisions of the privileges committee and he should appear before it if summoned, even after retirement.