The war between the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy and the state election Commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh heated up as Jagan approached Supreme Court challenging the EC’s decision. In the wake of the Corona Virus threat, the Election Commission decided to postpone the local body elections in the Andhra Pradesh.
Later Jagan made some serious comments on Ramesh’s caste and alleged him of favouritism to Chandra Babu Naidu as they both belong to the same community. CM Jagan alleged that Ramesh Kumar has “misused” his “special discretionary powers” and postponed the local body election. Jagan said SEC’s decision to postpone local body polls was purely one-sided.
Jagan even asked how an SEC could unilaterally free district collectors and SPs from their election duty. Now Ramesh seems to be extremely disappointed with Jagan’s remarks and his close acquaintances are hinting the possibility of complaining against Jagan by Nimmagadda Ramesh.
As. Respons to Jagan’s serious allegations, Ramesh released a press note and the important points in it reads –
1. On 14.03.2020, the Government of India had classified Coronavirus as a ‘disaster’ and kept the nation in a State of preparedness. The State Election Commissioner did contact national level functionaries before taking a decision on the threat ‘Corona’ posed.
2. The State Election Commission is bound to follow the guidelines consistent to the guidelines of ECI and take appropriate steps to hold a free and fair election without allowing to adopt the evil practices by any of the parties. The Commission is of the view that the present elections are merely put on a hold and not cancelled.
3. Violence in the ongoing elections is a matter that is engaging the attention of the Commission and various political parties have been highlighting the surge of violence. The State Election is affecting certain measures regarding Government functionaries, had acted as per the dictum of Hon’ble Supreme Court contained in the landmark judgment in Kishan Singh Tomar Vs, The Municipal Corporation of the City of Ahmedabad.
With the above-released statements, it is clear that Ramesh is very confident in his decision and probably is bringing a challenge in front of Jagan and his leaders for their baseless allegations.