VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Thursday cleared the way for counting of votes polled in the Mandal Parishad and Zilla Parishad elections on April 8. A division bench of High Court Chief Justice AK Goswami and Justice J Uma Devi set aside a single judge’s order of May 21 cancelling the April 1 notification related to the MPTC and ZPTC polls.
The single judge had earlier ordered to issue a fresh notification for the conduct of election from the stage it was halted following the Covid pandemic in 2020. After the State Election Commission issued notification on April 1 to complete the pending election of MPTCs and ZPTCs and hold elections on April 8, TDP politburo member Varla Ramaiah, Janasena and BJP leaders Ch Srinivas Rao, P Nababhushanam filed writ petitions in the High Court challenging the election notification. They argued that enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct four weeks before the polling day, as directed by the Supreme Court, was not followed.
On May 21, Justice M Satyanarayana Murthy set aside the April 1 notification calling it “illegal, arbitrary and violative of the direction issued by the Supreme Court.” Subsequently, the SEC challenged the single judge’s order. In its Thursday judgment, the division bench headed by Chief Justice AK Goswami stated that the order of the learned single Judge cannot be sustained in law and gave green signal for counting of votes, by strictly following Covid protocols.
On certain adverse remarks made by the Single judge in his orders, the division bench noted that strong words and observations were not really called for. The election process for MPTCs and ZPTCS had commenced in March 2020 before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic but was put off following the spread of the infection. On April 8, 2021, election was conducted for 7,220 MPTC and 515 ZPTC seats for which 20,840 candidates were in the fray. For the record, the TDP boycotted the election but technically it remained in the contest as the ballot papers were printed before it announced its decision.
The YSRC had bagged 2,271 MPTC and 126 ZPTC seats unopposed in March 2020. The TDP had also won 100 MPTCs unanimously. Meanwhile, the State election Commission decided to take up counting of the ZPTC/MPTC polls on September 19.
Sajjala welcomes verdict
YSRC general secretary Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy welcomed the High Court verdict and lashed out at former SEC Nimmagadda Ramesh and the TDP for “creating hurdles in the election process”. He alleged that the opposition parties have conspired to obstruct democracy. ZPTC and MPTC polls were to be held during Chandrababu’s regime, but Naidu postponed the elections fearing defeat. However, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy initiated steps to conduct the polls soon after forming the government, but it was postponed with the issue of reservations. Later, they were unilaterally postponed by the former SEC Nimmagadda Ramesh in March 2020 citing Covid-19, he alleged.
Adverse remarks
On certain adverse remarks made by the single judge in his order, the division bench noted that strong words and observations were not really called for. In the matter, such observations have no relevance, it said.