State Election Commissioner, Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar, had left the decision of holding local body elections to the Central government.
In a reply to state chief secretary, Nilam Sahwany, the SEC said that the commission is ready to hold the election if there is an advice from the Central Task Force, which is monitoring the corona virus in the country.
While there was no such an advice from the said Task Force for him to postpone or rather suspend the local body elections for six weeks, he is now conveniently taking shelter under the Task Force to justify his decision.
The SEC is under sharp criticism for the decision as there was no such an advice or caution either from the health department of AP or the Government of India.
It is a fact that he took the decision and postponed the election for six weeks following the demand from opposition leader Chandrababu Naidu.
The relationship between Chandrababu Naidu and Ramesh Kumar are known to the people as the bureaucrat’s daughter was paid from the State exchequer during the TDP regime and he is loyal to the TDP chief.
But when he is being cornered from all quarters for the unilateral decision and chief secretary had written letter to him seeking withdrawal of suspension of the election process and conduct elections, the SEC had conveniently passed the issue into the court of the Central Task Force and the Central government.
The AP government, which feels that the agenda for the constitutional bodies is being set by the opposition leader, had already challenged the SEC’s decision in the court.
Now, it is to be seen if the government approaches the Central Task Force or the Central government and get the clearance to complete the local body election process which is half-finished.
