VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Friday directed the State police to provide adequate security to candidates seeking to file nominations for the Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituency (MPTC) and Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituency (ZPTC) elections, in accordance with the directions issued by the Supreme Court.
Justice Gandham Sunitha also directed the State Election Commission (SEC) and the police to implement the Supreme Court’s instructions on ensuring the smooth conduct of the elections without deviation.
The court passed the orders while hearing several petitions filed by YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) candidates, who alleged that the police were deliberately preventing them from reaching nomination centres in collusion with ruling party leaders.
Advocates Chintala Suman, V.R. Reddy Kovvuri, V. Sai Kumar, Sanepalli Ramalakshmana Reddy and Medapati Santosh Reddy, appearing for the petitioners, alleged that the police were allowing ruling party supporters to gather in large numbers near nomination centres while obstructing opposition candidates.
They submitted photographs to the court showing the alleged obstruction and claimed that around 2,000 ruling party supporters had gathered at certain nomination centres without police intervention.
The petitioners said their complaints to the Election Commission had yielded no results. They also alleged that even attempts to lodge complaints with the respective Superintendents of Police were unsuccessful, claiming that they were not being allowed to meet the officers personally.
According to the petitioners, some candidates were being confined to their locations and prevented from stepping out to file nominations. They argued that the alleged restrictions violated the Supreme Court’s directions to provide security to candidates wishing to contest the elections.
Appearing for the police, advocates A. Jayanthi and Ajay Kumar denied that candidates were being prevented from filing nominations. They contended that the police were only restricting large groups accompanying candidates and that those complying with the rules were not being obstructed.
