With the controversial retired IAS officer Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar retiring as Andhra Pradesh state election commission on March 31 on attaining age of superannuation, the Jagan Mohan Reddy government has quickly set in motion the process for the appointment of next SEC.
Reason: the Jagan government wants to complete the stalled process of elections to mandal parishads and zilla parishads at the earliest, so that he could focus on other welfare and developmental works.
Though Jagan made all efforts to see that the MPTC and ZPTC elections are held during the tenure of Nimmagadda itself, the latter adopted a defiant attitude and refused to hold the elections citing his own reasons.
So, the chief minister has no option for but go in for a quick appointment of the new SEC. For that, he has to constitute a committee of senior officials to select the panel of three retired IAS officers for the SEC post and send the panel to Governor Biswa Bhushan Harichandan.
The Governor will select one among them and appoint him as the SEC. Though the government can recommend a name, but it is the prerogative of the Governor to decide the person for the SEC appointment.
According to sources, Jagan held a meeting of officials led by chief secretary Adityanath Das on Tuesday to discuss the issue of appointment of a new SEC, following the high court judgement refusing to direct Nimmagadda to conduct the MPTC and ZPTC polls.
It is learnt Jagan has zeroed in on three retired IAS officers – M Samuel, Neelam Sawhney and L Premachandra Reddy. Of them, Samuel and Sawhney have already been advisors to the CMO, while Reddy has been looking after the issues pertaining to implementation of AP Reorganisation Act.
According to reports, Jagan is favouring Samuel, as he had been very close to him and his father late YSR. However, there is a hitch. He is 67 years old and according to a latest recommendation of the task force of the Central Panchayat Raj and Rural Development, the maximum age limit of the SEC should be only 65 years.
Though the state government can still decide on Samuel, the Governor might raise an objection because of the central rule. So, alternatively, Jagan might recommend the name of Neelam Sawhney, who worked as chief secretary of AP till recently.
In any case, the new SEC will be appointed in the next few days, much before the retirement of Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar!
