HC rebukes Andhra govt for ‘hostile attitude’ towards SEC

The Andhra Pradesh High Court has come down heavily on the Jagan Mohan Reddy government over the State Election Commission issue. The court said it had developed a ‘hostile attitude’ towards the SEC.

The HC warned the government against serious consequences, if it did not cooperate with State Election Commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar in holding the local body elections. The court pulled up the state government’s “defiant” stand towards the State Election Commission (SEC), the Constitutional Institution. It asked the government to fulfil the requirements of the SEC and submit a compliance report within three days.

Meanwhile, if the court gives a green signal to Nimmagadda to issue a fresh election notification, there is every possibility that the Jagan government would challenge the order in the Supreme Court to obtain the stay. All this process will take a few months and by that time, the term of NImmagadda Ramesh Kumar would be over. But the tussle between the Jagan Reddy Government and State Election Commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar seems to have intensified.

Earlier, Ramesh Kumar filed his ‘counter affidavit’ in the High Court of Andhra Pradesh saying that the SEC was ready for conducting the local body polls. He told the court that over 13 political parties took part in the all-party meeting while six parties did not attend. The ruling YCP boycotted this meeting. Ramesh Kumar told the court that the political parties expressed their unanimous opinion that the local polls held in March should be cancelled and fresh notification should be issued.

Accordingly, the SEC was prepared to conduct the elections by issuing the schedule. The SEC also told the court that he had to postpone the local polls in March because of the peak level rise in Coronavirus infections at that time. The epidemic has eased to some extent. The neighbouring Telangana is going to conduct municipal elections. In Bihar, the Central Election Commission is conducting assembly elections.

On the discussions with the AP Chief Secretary, the SEC told the court that the issue of virus preventive measures was discussed to prevent problems during the elections. The SEC was taking all steps for the safety of voters. Also, there was scarcity of ballot boxes in the State.