The AP High court asked the Election Commission about the commencement of the Panchayat Raj elections in the state. It is known that the Chief Election Commissioner of Andhra Pradesh Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar has postponed the elections in the wake of COVID-19 for 6 months and now the HC conducted a hearing on the election process.
On the other side, the YCP government has made it clear in court that local body elections cannot be held. The Advocate General told the court on behalf of the state government that it was impossible to hold elections in the wake of the prevalence of Covid-19.
However, the High Court, however, did not agree with the Advocate General’s explanation. The judges questioned why elections could not be held in AP as Bihar prepares for elections next month. The AG explained that he had only informed the court of the decisions of the state government.
Finally, the High Court issued notices asking the Election Commissioner to take a final decision on the local elections and this means that the final decision on holding local body elections now rests with the Election Commissioner. With him having the ball on the court it became interesting to see what Nimmagadda would do. SEC Nimmagadda is yet to respond to the High Court notices.
We all know how the Election Commissioner Ramesh Kumar has unilaterally postponed elections in March without consulting the state government citing the spread of coronavirus as the sole reason. Since then the state government and the SEC have been in conflict. Now, Nimmagadda has another chance to unsettle Jagan.