VIJAYAWADA: The State government on Tuesday informed the High Court that the process of appointing the State Election Commissioner (SEC) would be completed within a week. Advocate General Dammalapati Srinivas submitted that the concerned file is currently pending with the Governor and a decision is expected shortly.
He also assured the court that local body elections would be conducted at the earliest.
The AG informed that 99.44% of the BC population enumeration has been completed by the Planning Department and the remaining process would be finished within a week.
To determine BC reservation in local body polls, the government has constituted a dedicated commission headed by Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, which has the mandate to examine backwardness and related factors.
With the tenure of gram panchayats having expired, the government has appointed 5,770 special officers to manage 13,096 panchayats and they have already assumed charge.
Taking note of the submissions, the High Court directed the government to file a detailed affidavit and adjourned the hearing to April 16. The bench, comprising Chief Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur and Justice R Raghunandan Rao, was hearing multiple petitions seeking BC census before polls, immediate conduct of elections, and challenging appointment of special officers.