CM Jaganmohan Reddy alleges foul play over postponement of panchayat elections
Hours after the State Election Commission announced to postpone Andhra Pradesh local body polls, Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy alleged that the state Election Commissioner N Ramesh Kumar acted at the behest of leader of opposition N Chandrababu Naidu. Slamming the opposition and SEC, Andhra CM said that former chief minister Naidu was unable to digest the fact that YSR Congress Party was heading to sweep the polls.
The rural and urban local bodies elections, which were earlier scheduled on March 21 and 23, were postponed by six weeks citing the precautionary measures required to check the spread of coronavirus.
The Chief Minister slammed the state Election Commissioner for his unilateral decision as his appointment came during former CM Naidu's regime and both belong to the same caste. He said, "It seems the state Election Commissioner is working at the behest of N Chandrababu Naidu. He was appointed when Naidu was Chief Minister and both belong to same caste."
Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy lodged a complaint against the official with Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan.
Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Chief Secretary Nilam Sawhney has written to the State Election Commissioner urging him to revoke its order of postponing local body polls and conduct them as per earlier schedule.
In a letter to the State Election Commissioner (SEC), the Chief Secretary assured that the state government is taking all necessary steps for containment of COVID-19.
The letter reads, "State government has been taking all necessary steps to contain coronavirus."
"Any postponement of elections will make the conduct of elections very uncertain depriving the state of having the availability of the third tier of government which is critical at this juncture," she wrote in the letter to SEC.
The Chief Secretary wrote that concerns with regard to the election coming in the way of containing COVID-19 can be addressed by issuing suitable advisories with regard to election campaigning by the candidates and congregation at the polling stations.
As on date, there is only one confirmed positive case and that too of a person who has returned from Italy. This is an indication that at present, local transmission has not set in and that the spread of coronavirus in the state is under control, the top official said.
Further, considering that there is no local transmission, leave alone community transmission, there may be no threat of the outbreak in alarming proportion in the next 2 to 4 weeks, the Chief Secretary added.
(With inputs from IANS)
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