VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Tuesday issued notices to the State Chief Secretary, State Election Commissioner and Principal Secretary of the Panchayat Raj Department on a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking online filing of nominations for gram panchayat elections.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Lisa Gill and Justice Challa Gunaranjan directed the respondents to file a counter affidavit with complete details of the matter.
The PIL was filed by Kithinidi Akhil Sri Guruteja, chairman of Help the People Charitable Trust, Kakinada. Appearing for the petitioner, advocate Tanda Yogesh submitted that a candidates’ portal had been developed using government funds and had the facility to receive nominations online.
He argued that online nomination facilities had not been provided in urban local body, ZPTC and MPTC elections, resulting in 15 incidents of nomination papers being torn up or forcibly snatched.
The petitioner urged the court to direct the SEC to introduce online nomination facilities for gram panchayat elections. Advocate General Dammalapati Srinivas opposed the plea, contending that the petitioner could not seek directions to the government to amend the relevant rules.