Andhra Pradesh Civil Supplies Minister Kodali Sri Venkateshwar Rao has accused State Election Commissioner (SEC) Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar of “misusing his constitutional position” in his eagerness to conduct rural local bodies’ elections.
“Do not do these petty things being in a constitutional position,” Rao said while claiming that Kumar was acting at the behest of opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) supremo Nara Chandrababu Naidu.
Rao, a senior Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) leader, challenged the SEC to join the TDP after demitting office in March to contest some election which he said will expose who’s who.
Rao reminded Kumar that when the YSRCP government wanted to conduct the elections in March when there was no lockdown, he allegedly colluded with Naidu to postpone them.
Rao ridiculed the SEC that he could not get the local elections conducted when there were two cases in the state but was now “raring” for the polls with ballots when Andhra was seeing recording 500 to 2,000 cases every day.
According to the Minister, a voter will be required to vote 2-3 times in sarpanch elections since a small village will have 12 wards and big ones 16-20 wards.
“By the time a voter votes, and the ballots get picked up, counted and all that, there is a possibility of spread of coronavirus,” he claimed.
The Andhra government and the SEC have been at loggerheads for almost a year now, each one taking opposing positions with respect to rural civic body elections.
–IANS
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