NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Monday in its order barred YSR Congress MLA Ramakrishna Reddy from entering the counting station of Macharla constituency tomorrow & it requested the Andhra Pradesh High Court to dispose the petition on merits, after noting that granting anticipatory bail to him is "Sheer mockery."
It was alleged against Reddy that he was involved illegally in EVM smashing case.
A two-judge vacation Bench of the top court, led by Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice Sandeep Mehta, on Monday, said that the grant of anticipatory bail to the accused (Reddy) by the Andhra Pradesh High Court was highly erroneous and needless.
Questioning the order of granting anticipatory bail to Reddy, the apex court observed, "It is sheer mockery of the system. The order is highly erroneous in granting of interim protection (to Reddy), where was the need."?
The top court made these observations and passed the order of barring Reddy from entering the counting station of Macharla constituency tomorrow, after hearing two petitions filed by a Telugu Desam Party (TDS) polling agent and TDP activist from Macharla, Namburi Seshagiri Rao, fearing threat to his life following poll violence in the Macherla assembly segment.
Rao had moved the apex court by filing his first plea in it and sought cancellation of the High Court's order granting interim protection to Reddy who is the incumbent Macherla MLA.
The second plea of Rao, highlighted that despite video evidence against Reddy, police filed the case against unknown persons. The police failed in its duty to name Reddy as the accused.
Rao alleged that he has a life threat from the MLA (Reddy) and his supporters. He said that the MLA had destroyed the EVM in Macherla on the day of polling. The TDP activist claimed that the MLA might resort to violence on the day of counting too. He said that there is threat to his life from the MLA as the police have not booked him in any case.