VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Wednesday made it clear that it is the Election Commission that has to respond on the issue of volunteers.
Sk Abubakar Siddique of Rajampet filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the High Court seeking to declare the appointment of 2.57 lakh volunteers by the present government as anti-constitutional. He further argued in his petition that taking the help of volunteers for the victory of the ruling party is against the Representation of the People Act, 1951
The case came up for hearing before the bench of Chief Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur and Justice R Raghunandan Rao. Appearing for the petitioner, senior advocate Unnam Muralidhar Rao argued that volunteers, who are receiving honorarium from the government, are acting as ruling party activists and the ruling party wants to be at an advantage in the elections with their help.
Responding to his argument, the court observed that volunteers are doing good to the people by taking welfare schemes to them. When the petitioner’s counsel sought an interim-stay order preventing volunteers from participating in election-related work, the court refused to issue any interim orders at this stage, and directed the State government and the Election Commission to file counters with full details. Further hearing was adjourned to three months.