The Election Commission is preventing the government of Andhra Pradesh from functioning and discharging its duties, according to Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
He made the complaint in a sharply-worded letter to the Chief Election Commissioner, the copy of which was released to the media on Friday. He said it was most unfortunate that the Chief Election Officer in Andhra Pradesh was raising “absurd and arbitrary” objections to the routine review meetings being conducted by him on the ongoing projects such as the Polavaram project and certain review meetings meant to address immediate problems faced by the people in the State such as drinking water shortage in certain areas.
Complaint to CEC
Naidu urged the Chief Election Commissioner to take suitable action and restrain the Chief Election Officer from “obstructing the functioning of the State government.” He complained that the Additional Director-General of Police (Intelligence) was not being allowed to report to him and was asked to report to the Chief Election Officer, which was a rather strange procedure.
Naidu observed that the Chief Election Officer was clearly exceeding his jurisdiction and under the Constitution “an elected government cannot be obstructed during its term of five years from discharging its duties.”
‘AP singled out’
He also complained that Andhra Pradesh was being singled out for this kind of treatment. “It may not be out of place to bring to your notice that the Union Cabinet met once after the model code of conduct came into force and the Telangana government is being allowed to conduct review meetings and discharge its duties. Do the same rules apply to all ?” he asked the Chief Election Commissioner.
Naidu also pointed out to the Chief Election Commissioner that the Election Commission was promptly responding to “all the frivolous and frequent complaints being made against the State government by the Opposition YSR Congress Party and there is no action on our genuine complaints.”
Protest against transfers
Reiterating the objections he had made earlier to the transfer of the Chief Secretary during the election period, and also to the transfer of the superintendents of police of several districts, Naidu said, “The same sorry situation is continuing even in th post-poll scenario. In view of the long gap of six weeks between the election date and the results date, should the administration come to a standstill?”
He also pointed out to the CEC that seven persons had lost their lives during the past week or so in the State due to sudden thunderstorms and thunderbolts and heavy gales and rains. “We could not take prompt action due to the unreasonable restrictions imposed by the Election Commission. Who will assume the responsibility for the deaths?” he asked.
He wanted the Chief Election Commissioner to take immediate corrective measures.