VIJAYAWADA: Is the Andhra Pradesh government planning to bring out an ordinance amending the Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 making it mandatory for the State Election Commission (SEC) to consult the government before issuing the schedule for local body elections? The AP Legislative Assembly on Friday unanimously adopted a resolution that the present situation in the State is not conducive for the conduct of local body elections in February 2021 as proposed by the SEC, and resolved that suitable legal provisions be incorporated in the Panchayat Raj Act and consequent rules to handle such situations.
The resolution moved by Deputy Chief Minister (Health) Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas (Nani) also cited that Section 197 (6) of the Telangana Panchayat Raj Act mandates that the schedule and date of panchayat elections should be decided by the SEC in concurrence with the State government.
However, the AP PR Act does not have such a provision, which resulted in an unseemly situation, where the unilateralism of the SEC was noticed even by the Supreme Court, which directed that further decision after the initial postponement of the local body elections, should be in consultation with the State, the resolution read.
In this backdrop, State Election Commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar has shot off a letter to Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan urging him not to give his consent if an ordinance is brought out by the government in this regard.
Taking serious exception to Nimmagadda writing a letter to the Governor in the wake of State Assembly’s resolution against local body polls in February, Minister for Civil Supplies Kodali Sri Venkateswara Rao questioned the SEC’s authority to advise the Governor on the matter. Lashing out at the SEC for citing rules of conducting elections once in five years as mandated, he sought to know what he was doing when the tenure of panchayats in the State ended in June, 2018.