AP gram panchayat election:SEC reschedules phase one of polls, says process has been vitiated

The Andhra Pradesh StateElection Commission has rescheduled phase one of the electionsto gram panchayats since the election process has been''vitiated'', even as the Supreme Court on Monday dismissed thestate government's appeal against the High Court orderupholding SEC decision to hold the polls.

The SEC on January 23 issued the notification for thegram panchayat elections to be conducted in four phases fromFebruary 5, with the nomination process scheduled to begin onMonday.

But, with the state government authorities failingto make required arrangements, the nomination process couldnot begin across the state, barring in a couple of places.

''The Commission came to a conclusion that the electionprocess has been vitiated as the district administration hasnot made arrangements for receiving nominations for thePhase-I Gram Panchayat elections scheduled from January 25.

Under the circumstances, the Commission reschedules thePhase-1 elections,'' State Election Commissioner N Ramesh KumarRamesh Kumar said in a fresh notification.

The previous schedules fixed for the subsequentphases remain unaltered.

As per the revised notification, the panchayatelections slated for February 5 would now be held on February21, nomination process for which would begin on February 10.

Ramesh Kumar directed that Panchayat Raj PrincipalSecretary Gopal Krishna Dwivedi and Commissioner M GirijaShankar be replaced forthwith.

The SEC had already issued proceedings seekingreplacement of Guntur and Chittoor district Collectors,Tirupati Urban Superintendent of Police and six other seniorpolice officers, whom he called ''tainted officers''.

Ramesh Kumar claimed both the Panchayat RajPrincipal Secretary and the Commissioner failed completely inproviding the latest (2021) electoral rolls despite a clearassurance given to the High Court.

''As a result of their negligent and irresponsibleaction, a grave situation has arisen wherein 3.6 lakh youngvoters who crossed the age of 18 years stand to lose theirconstitutional right to adult franchise.The Commission hastaken it very seriously,'' Ramesh Kumar said.

Accordingly, he sought the transfer of the two headsof the Panchayat Raj Department.

The Commissioner also issued a ''Direction'' to alldistrict Collectors to indent the services of Centralgovernment employees as well as members of the Central publicsector undertakings for election-related responsibilities asdeemed appropriate.

''The Commission desires the District Collectors toundertake the election work without disruption by deployingthe state government employees and members of state publicsector, all the state government organisations and members ofall state corporations and other entities in the firstinstance.'' ''The Central government employees and members ofpublic sector undertakings shall only be used as a last resortif inadequacies persist with regard to poll personnel,'' RameshKumar said.

He said the notification and its intentions werecommunicated to the Union Cabinet Secretary.

In a setback to YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government, theapex court on Monday dismissed its appeal against the HighCourt order upholding State Election Commission decision tohold gram Panchayat elections in the state saying, ''We cannotbe part of this ego battle''.

The State government has sought postponement ofPanchayat polls due to the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination drive.

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