- Elections will be held under SEC Ramesh Kumar’s watch
- Employees cannot file petition saying they won’t work for elections
- Justic Sanjay Kaul repudiates Rohatgi’s arguments on behalf of AP govt.
- Says the govt. is attributing motives to the SEC
New Delhi : Supreme Court of India has given green signal to the Panchayat raj elections in Andhra Pradesh to be held under the watch of AP State Election Commissioner. The petition filed by Andhra Pradesh government requesting to set aside the judgment of a division bench of AP High Court was rejected by the Supreme Court on Monday. Justice Sanjay Kaul and Justice Hrishikesh Rai comprised the bench which heard Mukul Rohatgi argue on behalf of AP government.
Also Read: A.P. Govt., SEC cross swords again
Justice Sanjay commented that the State government was keen on elections when corona was spreading and now it is attributing motives to the SEC to avoid elections in the name of vaccination. Rohatgi said a single judge in AP High Court had upheld the view of the government that elections could not be held due to its preoccupation with the vaccination programme. Elections in Goa also were postponed for the same reason. About five lakh employees are needed to make the vaccination programme successful.
Also Read: AP govt. and CEC cold war continues
Justice Kaul asked if elections are not taking place elsewhere in the country. Holding Panchayat elections is part of the duties of the State Election Commissioner Ramesh Kumar. The way the government mentioned about Ramesh Kumar speaks about its attitude towards the SEC. The AP government has been citing one reason or the other to get the polls postponed, the judge commented. Employees have been behaving unconstitutionally when they said they will not be able to do election duty. Holding elections is part of politics and they cannot be postponed time and again. Elections were held in Kerala smoothly in spite of the fact that the State was having corona infection in a greater dimension.
Also Read: AP HC squashes SEC order
