CM Jagan wants to prevent SEC from conducting local polls

The confrontation between YSR Congress party government in Andhra Pradesh and the state election commission has taken a new turn with chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy hinting at promulgating an ordinance to prevent the commission from conducting the elections to local bodies in February.The Jagan government on Friday moved a resolution in the state assembly suggesting that suitable legal provisions would be incorporated in AP Panchayat Raj Act, 1994, to prevent the conduct of local body elections by SEC Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar against the wishes of the state government.

The state government said there is a provision in Section 197(6) of the Telangana Panchayat Raj Act which mandates that the schedule and the date of elections to panchayat raj institutions shall be decided by the SEC in concurrence with the state government. It said the Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj Act does not have such a provision and therefore, it was proposed to incorporate a similar provision to see that the SEC announces the schedule of elections only in concurrence with the state government.

Challenging the resolution, Ramesh Kumar on Saturday wrote a letter to Governor Biswabhushan Harichandan stating that the resolution adopted in the assembly was unconstitutional. He requested the Governor not to promulgate the ordinance on recommendation of the state government but refer the same to the legal experts. In his letter to the Governor, Ramesh Kumar argued that under Article 243K of the Constitution, SEC was an autonomous institution having equal powers of the Election Commission of India and it was the duty of the SEC to conduct local body elections once in five years. “There is no need for the SEC to take the concurrence of the state government,” he said.

State health minister Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas has said the state was obligated to ensure the health of its citizens and at the very minimum not to initiate any activity which compromises their life and health. The state machinery has therefore communicated to SEC that it would be imprudent to schedule any elections at this time.