Ramesh sticks to his guns, writes again to Sawhney

Andhra Pradesh State Election Commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar is fighting his Constitutional battle with the Jagan Reddy Government as if he has nothing to lose. He is retiring in March, 2021. He has scheduled the local polls for February, 2021. From Ministers to Chief Secretary Nilam Sawhney, all have clarified that there is no question of holding the polls. But, Nimmagadda is sticking to his guns. He has called for another review meeting with the Collectors, Zilla Parishad CEOs and Panchayat Officers today.

Only yesterday, Nimmagadda faced the bitter situation when no District Collector attended his review meeting despite his circular. They were saying that they had got no permission from the Chief Secretary to attend the same. On her part, Nilam Sawhney was saying that the officials were not ready to hold the polls in view of the Coronavirus epidemic.

Once again, Nimmagadda wrote another letter today to the Chief Secretary saying that he is holding a review meeting on local polls today. He told the CS to send all the District Collectors and the officials concerned for the meeting. Not stopping at that, Nimmagadda has made all arrangements at the SEC office for the review meeting. He has already communicated to the Governor his plans for holding the panchayat polls in February, 2021.

Undoubtedly, a serious constitutional crisis is looming large yet again. It is curious to watch how Nimmagadda will turn this in his favour despite the tough stand taken by CM Jagan Reddy not to hold the polls as long as Ramesh Kumar is the SEC.