HYDERABAD: A public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Telangana High Court challenging the order issued by the State Election Commission (SEC) on November 18 directing the State government to put on hold the distribution of flood relief to affected families in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation limits till completion of elections in the city.
Advocate S Sharath Kumar, in the PIL, urged the court to declare the impugned order/letter issued by the SEC on November 18, 2020, as highly arbitrary and illegal. He challenged the validity of the letter of SEC Secretary addressed to the MAUD Principal Secretary seeking to stop the said relief till declaration of results as Model Code of Conduct which came into force from November 17. The government’s decision to provide financial assistance to the affected families has been diluted by the SEC without any reason, he said.
In fact, the Election Commissioner had stated that calamity relief distribution is exempted from MCC, but within 24 hours it was stopped, he said. He further urged the court to ensure distribution of financial aid of`10,000 to the flood-hit in the GHMC limits through the online method.
Teachers, tax officials are exempted from election duty
The State government has exempted teachers and those involved in tax collections from GHMC poll duty. It was decided to draft polling staff from all districts of the State. However, apart from teachers, all other government employees would be involved in poll duties. Accordingly, District Collectors have been asked to depute staff. Personnel who are connected/involved with collection of taxes shall also be exempted from being drafted for election duty. However, Ministerial staff of these offices shall be drafted.