At last, the controversial term of retired IAS officer Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar as the Andhra Pradesh State Election Commissioner (SEC) came to an end on Thursday.
Till the last week, Nimmagadda continued to be in tussle with the Jagan Mohan Reddy government in the state over the conduct of local body elections.
He refused to complete the process for conduct the polls to zilla parishad and mandal parishad territorial constituency members (ZPTCs and MPTCs) before March 31, creating an embarrassing situation for the government.
Even on the last day of his service, Nimmagadda maintained an aggressive posture over denial of voting rights to him.
Describing it as a storm in the tea cup, he said the government had no right to deny him the voting right, as he had cancelled his vote in Telangana and registered his name in his native place in Guntur.
“My application is still pending with the district collector. If I am denied the voting right, I will move the high court as a citizen of India and continue my fight,” Nimmagadda told reporters.
He said he was completely satisfied with his tenure, despite the hiccups in the last one year.
“I successfully conducted the local body elections with the support of government machinery without having to conduct any repolls,” he said.
Stating that the difference between the two systems – SEC and the government – were totally unwarranted, Nimmagadda blamed it on a few individuals who tried to bulldoze the SEC.
“It was unusual on their part to ask the election commission staff to go on leave and I had to intervene to set the things right,” he said.
The confrontation between Nimmagadda and the Jagan government began with the former stalling the process of election to local bodies in March 2020 on the pretext of Coronavirus pandemic.
Jagan expressed anger over the decision and even attributed caste motives to the SEC, but since the Centre imposed lockdown, he could not do anything.
Later, on April 10, the Jagan government removed Nimmagadda from the post of SEC through an ordinance, which sought to reduce the term of the SEC from five years to three years and appoint a judicial officer of the high court judge rank in the post.
Accordingly, orders were issued ending the term of Nimmagadda who had just completed four years and retired Madras high court judge V Kanagaraj was appointed in his place.
Nimmagadda challenged it in the court of law and after a prolonged legal battle between and the state government, the Supreme Court ordered his reinstatement. And the Jagan government was forced to restore Ramesh Kumar as SEC on July 31.
But the Jagan government decided not to conduct local polls till the retirement of Nimmagadda, but in January this year, the latter suddenly announced the schedule for local body polls to be held in February, stating that the Covid-19 pandemic was subsiding.
Though the Jagan government moved the court, the latter refused to intervene in the election process. As a result, the elections to the gram panchayats and municipalities were held in February and March.
