Set Back To SEC Nimmagadda As AP High Court Suspends Local Body Polls

AMARAVATI: In a major set back to Andhra Pradesh State Election Commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh, the AP High Court has ruled that local body elections should not be conducted in the state as per the schedule suggested by SEC.

It may be recalled that the AP SEC Nimmagadda Ramesh had released the schedule to conduct local body elections in February. The Andhra Pradesh government under Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had opposed it saying that was not a priority in view of the pandemic fears.

The AP Government  even took the matter to the legal cell and sought the intervention of High Court.

In a breather for AP government, the high court has suspended the conduct of panchayat elections in Andhra Pradesh saying it would interfere with the vaccination schedule.

The court stated that in the interests of the welfare of AP citizens it was not advisable to hold the local body polls in February as sought by the SEC.

The court stated that citizen's health was priority and no activity that interferes with the vaccination procedure should be held in the state.  It is worth mentioning here that Andhra Pradesh was one of the few states that conducted vaccine dry run.  The COVID measures taken by the YS Jagan government has come in for a lot of praise from the Centre.