VIJAYAWADA: The State Election Commission (SEC) has urged the Andhra Pradesh High Court to allow it to complete the process of counting for the MPTC/ ZPTC elections held on April 8. The Division Bench of the High Court had earlier asked the SEC to conduct the elections for MPTCs and ZPTCs, but not to count the votes till the single judge bench completes its hearing on the petitions challenging the conduct of the elections.
The petitions were filed challenging the conduct of elections without following the Supreme Court guidelines to impose Model Code of Conduct four weeks prior to the elections. When the case came up for hearing before the single judge bench of Justice U Durgaprasad Rao, the SEC secretary K Kannababu filed a counter seeking the court’s permission to complete the counting of votes and elect chairperson and vice-chairpersons for the MPTCs and ZPTCs. The SEC said that development activities would be hampered if the election process continues for a long period. The SEC said there is a need for the administration to focus on taking preventive measures in the wake of the second wave of Covid-19 and for it, the election process should be completed. The court posted the matter for further hearing to April 19.