SEC seeks removal of senior IAS officer from election duties, govt advisor

The Andhra Pradesh StateElection Commission has sought the removal of PrincipalSecretary Praveen Prakash from poll duties, days aftercensuring two senior IAS officers for alleged dereliction indischarging their work related to gram panchayat poll.

The SEC also in a letter to Governor BiswabhusanHarichandan sought the removal of the state GovernmentsAdvisor S Ramakrishna Reddy from his post for allegedlycriticising him sitting in the ruling YSR Congress Partysoffice.

In a letter to the Chief Secretary Adityanath Das onThursday, SEC N Ramesh Kumar alleged Prakash was primarilyresponsible for scuttling a video conference convened by thecommission with the District Collectors and Superintendentsof Police on January 23 on poll preparedness.

The State Election Commission invokes its plenarypowers under Article 243 read with Article 324 to transferPraveen Prakash, IAS, with a view to ensure free and fairelections.

''He is barred during the course of elections to haveinteraction with District Collectors and SPs and any otherofficers who either directly or indirectly deal with mattersrelating to elections, the SEC letter said.

Praveen Prakash also seems to have given instructions tothe Collectors and SPs as well as other officers not toparticipate in the commission meetings, it said.

The Collectors were apparently instructed not tocooperate with the poll process as well.

As a result of the non-preparedness on the part ofthe District collectors, the commission was forced toreschedule the phase-I elections. This is a totallyunconscionable act and merits serious action in the fitness ofthings, the SEC said.

Alleging that two senior IAS officers- PrincipalSecretary Gopal Krishna Dwivedi and M Girija Sankar,Commissioner of Panchayat Raj, failed to carry out theirduties in preparing the latest electoral rolls as per January,2021, for the ongoing Gram Panchayat polls, the SEC hadearlier censured them.

However, the state government rejected the commissionsmove saying that the SEC has no powers for it.

Ramesh Kumar also took strong exception to the remarksmade by Ministers P Ramachandra Reddy and Botsa Satyanarayanaand YSRCP Rajya Sabha member Vijaysai Reddy about the SECsaying they amount to violation of the Model Code ofConduct.

''His (Ramakrishna Reddys) malafide and conflict ofinterest are apparent and he shall be dismissed forthwith asAdvisor in public interest. The statements made by SriVijaysai Reddy, member of Parliament are also numerous and inviolation of Code of Conduct, the SEC letter to the Governorsaid.

He requested Harichandan to seek the highest legalopinion on the issue preferably from the Attorney General,saying he did not have confidence in the States AdvocateGeneral.

Meanwhile, nominations for the first phase of the pollsbegan on Friday and polls will be held on February 9.

The Y S Jagan Mohan government and the SEC have been atloggerheads over the conduct of the local body elections withthe former seeking postponement of the exercise, citing theCOVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing vaccination programme.

While a single judge bench of the Andhra Pradesh HighCourt earlier this month suspended the SEC's poll schedule, adivision bench, allowing an appeal by the poll body, latergave the go ahead for the elections, to be held next month.

In a setback to the state government, the Supreme Courton January 25 dismissed its appeal against the high courtorder saying, 'We cannot be part of this ego battle'.