INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Tuesday refused to issue an interim order directing the State Election Commission to stay the
execution of its proceedings to conduct gram panchayat polls in February 2021, and directed the poll body to file a counter-affidavit and
posted the next hearing on December 14.A High Court Division Bench headed by Justice D.V.S.S
Somayajulu heard a petition filed by the state government challenging the election proceedings issued by the SEC on November 11 to conduct
gram panchayat polls in February 2021
The state government contended that the prevailing atmosphere in the state was not conducive to conduct elections in the wake of Covid-19
The state government also argued that the allotment of officials and police personnel for the conduct of the election was not possible as
they were preoccupied with Covid-19 related work. The court observed that there was a need to consider several issues at depth before
issuing any direction on the issue and asked whether this court could interdict the impugned order and if it was the case, whether it would
amount to an interference with the order issued earlier by the Division Bench to be examined.The court wanted to examine whether the
election process had already commenced and there was the only postponement of it and that it also wanted to examine whether it could stay
elections in case the poll process had already commenced
The court also wanted to find out whether circumstances in the state were conducive for the conduct of elections due to
Covid-19. Advocate-general S
Sriram pointed out that the SEC’s issue of election proceedings for conduct of gram panchayat polls in February 2021 was not based on
rational consideration of the facts, while SEC’s counsel N
Ashwini Kumar maintained that the election body issued such proceedings only after consulting the state government.Finally, the court
directed the state election commissioner to submit all the details by filing a counter-affidavit as there was a need for a deeper
investigation and study before the issue of a final order in the case.
