Opposition party leaders have expressed dissatisfaction with the state election commissioner (SEC) Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar. Recently, an all-party meeting on municipal and corporation elections was held at the SEC headquarters in Vijayawada. The meeting was attended by leaders of the opposition parties and the ruling party.
On this occasion, Varla Ramayya, a member of the TDP party politburo alleged that “There is a lot of change in SEC words and stance”. The opposition leaders alleged that YCP leaders are threatening candidates and forcing them to withdraw their nominations and that the SEC did not care if they complained about it. However, Varla Ramayya lauded the SEC for holding the local body elections with courage despite the state government created hurdles.
Mastan Vali, who was present as the Congress spokesperson, said that if the same trend continues in the municipal elections, the situation will be worse than in the panchayat elections. CPI spokesperson Wilson said that the YCP leaders were committing various irregularities and manipulations with the aim of winning the elections at any cost, but he criticized the SEC for not responding to this. However, Narayanamurthy, who was present on behalf of the YCP, said that the SEC should not control the volunteers.