VIJAYAWADA: Government Advisor (Public Affairs) Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy on Friday described as unfortunate the High Court single bench verdict canceling MPTC and ZPTC elections in the state.
Addressing a press conference here on Friday, Sajjala said that the State Election Commission (SEC) held the parishad polls as directed by a division bench of the High Court and it is an unfortunate judgment ignoring the people’s decision.
He said that elections are a part of democracy and the government conducted polls keeping Covid-19 in view as the elected candidates would be available to serve the public during the pandemic crisis. He said the election process was completed under the difficult circumstances of the pandemic.
“On the previous occasion, a single judge of the High Court had issued the same judgment, but the division bench kept it aside and allowed the elections to be held and asked the counting of votes and results be stopped till the final verdict. The government is of the opinion that a verdict should have been issued considering the earlier order of the division bench, but keeping it aside once again was not proper. However it is between the High Court and the State Election Commission,” he said.
According to sources, an appeal is likely to be made in the Supreme Court against the High Court verdict
Recalling the earlier incidents, Sajjala said the elections were postponed earlier citing the pandemic when the government was ready and every time an attempt was made to obstruct it with some excuse. He stated that the TDP had made vicious moves knowing that they cannot win. He expressed confidence that YSRCP will win any election, as people were on their side since they were happy with the good governance of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.
On the Supreme Court verdict on granting bail to YSRCP rebel MP Raghurama Krishnam Raju, Sajjala said all the people knew how he had incited hatred among various castes and religions and the drama of police assault. He welcomed the Court’s decision allowing the investigation by the CID. “With a positive attitude, we are striving for the welfare of people. Jagan never treats anyone as a rival or enemy. If one crosses the limit, legal action will be taken against him/her,” he said.
He said that the MP traveled in his own car from Guntur to Secunderabad and suspected that something might have happened at that time. Sajjala said that Raghurama worked under the direction of TDP Chief Chandrababu Naidu.