Andhra Pradesh Election Commissioner Nilam Sawhney issues guidelines for poll campaign

VIJAYAWADA: Asserting that there is no reason for delaying the elections to MPTC/ZPTCs as all the decks have been cleared, State Election Commissioner (SEC) Nilam Sawhney has felt that in wake of the surge in COVID cases and soaring temperatures, it is the better to complete the local elections as early as possible.

Speaking to mediapersons after meeting the representatives of political parties in her office here on Friday, Sawhney said the notification for the MPTC/ZPTC elections was issued on April 1 and the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) came into the force from the same day for the April 8 elections.

Stating that the commission is only resuming the process of election from where it was paused, she said the notification was issued after going through all the issues and coming to a conclusion that there is nothing in the way of conducting the election to MPTCs, ZPTCs at present.

"The list of candidates was finalised about a year ago and enquiry is not possible into the unanimous election as the Form 10 has already been issued to the unanimously elected members," she said. The SEC justified the notification, resuming the MPTC and ZPTC election process that was stalled in March last year, saying "time is running out" and it was not good to further delay the polls.

Within hours after assuming charge as the SEC, Sawhney who previously served as the state Chief Secretary, issued a notification late on Thursday night fixing April 8 as the date of election to the MPTCs and ZPTCs. Sawhney observed that elections to local bodies were pending for a long time.

In fact, elections to panchayats were pending from 2018 and MPTCs, ZPTCs and Urban Local Bodies from 2019. The SEC said a call centre has been set up in the SEC office to receive and respond to election-related complaints.

She also asserted that COVID protocols need to be followed strictly during the campaigning started from Friday and during the elections. Opposition parties including the TDP, BJP and Janasena boycotted the political parties’ meeting called by the SEC.