SEC pauses local polls until further orders

VIJAYAWADA: The State Election Commission (SEC) on Wednesday issued a notification withholding the election process of MPTC/ZPTC and urban local bodies until further orders. Elections to the local bodies were postponed by the SEC on March 15 for a period of six weeks or till the Covid-19 threat subsides.

The decision to defer the local body elections was taken by the then State Election Commissioner N Ramesh Kumar, citing the outbreak of coronavirus, which became controversial following severe objection raised by the State government. The government challenged the decision of the SEC in the Supreme Court.

The apex court, while upholding the SEC decision of postponement of elections, directed that there should be post decisional consultation with the State government before notifying the next date of elections. The Andhra Pradesh High Court also gave a direction to the SEC against issuing a notification for local body elections until the removal of colours of the ruling party painted on panchayat buildings. 

As the six-week period came to an end, SEC Justice V Kanagaraj issued a notification pausing the election process until further orders considering the court judgements and other relevant factors like lockdown. “The SEC will review the situation from time to time in consultation with the State government and when the situation conducive for conduct of polls is restored, the election process will be resumed from the stage where it was stopped in order to complete it complying with the directions of the Supreme Court and High Court,” the notification read.