The bugle sounded for the gram panchayat elections by State Election Commissioner N. Ramesh Kumar is anti-democratic as it hinders the efforts being undertaken by the Central and State governments to contain the spread of COVID-19 and rolling out of the vaccine, R&B Minister M. Sankaranarayana has said.
Addressing the media at his house here on Saturday, Mr. Sankaranarayana alleged that the SEC was acting against the interests of the people.
“The dry run for the first phase of vaccination programme is in progress, and very soon the vaccine roll-out will begin. It has to be administered in a proper way to all the identified persons, for which the district officials are working overtime to ensure that everything goes as per plan,” he said, and added that in this backdrop the SEC should rethink on going ahead with the elections in February.
When asked about the options now available for the government, the Minister said it was looking into all legal options, and knocking on the door of the Supreme Court would also be considered as the SEC had violated the directives of the apex court to conduct the elections in consultation with the State government.
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