Ramesh Kumar stand vindicated: SEC further extends postponement of polls to civic bodies

In what can been seen as a vindication to the stand taken by Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar, the State Election Commission has further postponed the elections to civic bodies in Andhra Pradesh. A notification to this effect was issued by the State Election Commission on Wednesday .

The State Election Commission in its notification on Wednesday stated that it was postponing the polls to civic bodies in light of the spread of the virus. The fresh notification issued by SEC comes as the earlier notification issued Ramesh Kumar ended on April 30. On March 15, Ramesh Kumar had postponed the elections to MPTCs and ZPTCs which were originally scheduled for March 21 .The elections were put off for six weeks from March 15. With Andhra Pradesh witnessing double digits surge in infections across the state and , the SEC on Wednesday decided to postpone the elections. Further, the SEC also stated that it took the decision to further postpone the polls since the matter was in the High Court.

Soon after the elections were put off, Ramesh Kumar had come under sharp criticism from the ruling party MLAs and ministers. Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy had met Governor Bishwabhushan Harichandan and termed Ramesh Kumar’s decision to put off polls as “arbitrary”. On his part, Ramesh Kumar had submitted a detailed report to Governor Bishwabhushan Harichandan. In the report, Ramesh Kumar stated that the commission had exercised its plenary powers under Articles 243K and 243ZA of the Constitution to put on hold the election process for a period of six weeks or till the threat of Covid-19 is arrested or declined and normalcy restored. The State Election Commissioner said his decisions were strictly as per statute and judgments of High Court and Supreme Court.

Fears a threat to his life and that of his family members from the ruling dispensation in Andhra Pradesh, Ramesh Kumar wrote a five-page letter to Union Home Ministry seeking police protection. He complained to the Home Ministry the CM and his colleagues were indulging in personal attacks against him.

In what was seen as vendetta politics, the State government had removed Ramesh Kumar as SEC by amending the Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj Act-1994 and cut short the tenure of SEC from five to three years. The government later had appointed Madras High Court retired justice Kangaraj as new commissioner. Ramesh Kumar moved the High Court challenging the government’s decision to remove him terming it unconstitutional.

In the recent arguments in the High Court, the AG informed the court that the petitioner Ramesh Kumar took the decision to defer the civic polls without consulting the State government officials concerned. The AG asserted that the ordinance amending the AP Panchayat Raj Act was issued as part of electoral reforms. Further, the AG argued that the State government brought in the Ordinance under Article 243 (K) of the Constitution. The government contended that under Article 243 (K) (2), tenure of the SEC doesn’t come under service conditions and argued that it was well within its rights to take a decision on the SEC.

Ramesh Kumar argued that the SEC had the discretionary powers to defer the elections to civic bodies and was under no obligation to reveal the factors that led to the postponement of the elections. Hearing the arguments of both the sides, the High Court asked if the state government amended the municipal act. “If you have not amended the municipal act, it means Ramesh Kumar continues to be the state election commissioner?,” the court asked the AG.