VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Friday directed the State government to finalise the reservations of the panchayat, Mandal and Zilla Parishad elections by 2 p.m of January 7 and send a report to the State Election Commission. The court also instructed the Election Commission to prepare the election schedule and place all the details before it by 10.30 a.m on January 8.
The bench comprising Chief Justice Jitender Kumar Maheswari and Justice M Venkataramana passed these directions while hearing a PIL filed by advocate Tandava Lokesh urging the court to issue directions to the government to conduct of elections to local bodies as the term was completed long ago. The bench also dismissed the appeal of government advocate Chintala Suman to extend the time for finalising the reservations till January 10.
Recalling its previous directions to the government to finalise the reservations by January 3, the court sought reasons for the delay. Though the government advocate mentioned that a counter was filed with all the details, the court dismissed the plea seeking more time and asked it to finalise the reservations by January 7.
Intervening at this juncture, state election commission advocate VV Prabhakar Rao informed that elections could be conducted within 60 days after receiving the details of the reservation. However, the court said there is no such need and directed it to place the schedule before it on January 8 and posted the case to that day.