The Andhra Pradesh High Court refused to pass urgent orders in the house motion moved by the Jagan Reddy Government on the issue of panchayat elections. However, the court postponed the hearing to Monday. The lack of immediate relief from the court came as a minor setback to the Government.
Already, the election code of conduct came into force from today itself. State Election Commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar was sticking to his decision to go ahead with the elections. There were serious counter reactions from all sections in the Government but still the SEC was determined to conduct the elections as per the schedule.
Now, just like in many other instances in the past, the YCP Government once again challenged the SEC decision on the February local polls before the High Court. Since there was not enough time to approach the Supreme Court, the Government immediately opted for the house motion.
The local polls issue was already heard in the High Court. It was based on the orders of the court itself that AP Chief Secretary Adityanath Das along with other officials met with the SEC personally. However, the differences between the SEC and the Government remained unresolved.
The SEC had also accused the Government on record of deliberately postponing the local polls in order to hold the same after his retirement after March. Ramesh Kumar also blamed YCP MP Vijay Sai Reddy for announcing that local polls would be held after April.
