The Supreme Court finally made it clear today that the local body elections of the state of Andhra Pradesh are to take place according to the SEC, Nimmagadda’s plan, and there has to be no intervention from the state government.
Following the SC’s verdict, the government has decided to cooperate with the SEC. Now, the SEC is transferring everyone who previously refused to cooperate with him, to organise the local body elections.
When the SEC initially refused to conduct the elections in early 2020, because of Coronavirus, he transferred a few officers. This greatly angered Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, who, in a press conference questioned the SEC’s authority to transfer anyone without his consent. Jagan went on to ask if he was the CM, or if Nimmagadda was. This became a huge topic of discussion back then, and CM Jagan was even brutally trolled for his statements. Even to this day, there are people who hold these statements against him.
Nimmagadda has ordered for the transfer of as many as 9 officials right now, all who have failed to cooperate with them, and Panchayati Raj’s Gopala Krishna Dwivedi and Commissioner Girija Shankar are also a part of this list of people. Several others have been relieved of their election duties. The transfer has been carried out by the CS of AP.
Chief Secretary Adityanath Das and DGP Gautam Sawang are also among the list of people who had not cooperated with teh SEC, with respect to the elections, and it is now to be seen what Nimmagadda’s decision will be, with respect to them.