VIJAYAWADA: A day after State Election Commissioner (SEC) N Ramesh Kumar announced deferring the local body elections scheduled in March citing coronavirus scare, Andhra Pradesh state Chief Secretary Nilam Sawhney wrote a letter to the SEC stating that the situation related to COVID-19 is under control in the state and requested the SEC to revoke its order of postponing the elections and adhere to the Election Schedule announced earlier.
It may be recalled that the SEC on Sunday announced halting of the election process citing coronavirus scare and also recommended transfer of a couple of district collectors and SPs. This was strongly objected by Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy who even lodged a complaint with the Governor Biswa Bhushan Harichandan about the SEC's decision to postpone elections without consulting the state government.
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On Monday, Chief Secretary Nilam Sawhney wrote a letter to the SEC talking about the steps taken by the state government to control the spread of coronavirus.
"Public health is the responsibility of the state government and therefore the SEC could have held prior consultation with the state. This would have helped us to appraise the correct status of COVID-19 before coming to a conclusion regarding postponement of elections,'' the CS said.
The Chief Secretary said that the medical and health department of the State has taken all measures for containment of COVID-19. Submitting a detailed note on the steps taken, Nilam Sawhney said only one confirmed positive case was registered in the State and that too of a person who returned from Italy.
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''This is an indication that at present, local transmission has not set and that the spread of
coronavirus in the state is under control. 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 two to three weeks,'' she said.
The CS said that suitable advisories with regard to election campaigning by candidates and congregation at polling station can be issued to address coronavirus scare.
''Candidates can be encouraged to use electronic media for campaigning and queues on the poll day can be restricted and staggered by election staff,'' she said and requested the SEC to revoke its order of postponing the elections and adhere to the Election Schedule announced earlier.
Meanwhile, SEC N Ramesh Kumar called on Governor Biswa Bhushan Harichandan and reportedly apprised the latter about the recent developments and the factors that led to the postponement of elections.