The adamant attitude of State Election Commission Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar to conduct the elections to rural and urban local bodies in Andhra Pradesh clearly shows that he wants to continue his confrontationist attitude towards the Jagan Mohan Reddy government.
Nimmagadda has called for an all-party meeting on October 28 to discuss the resumption of electoral process for local bodies. There is a talk that he might announce a fresh schedule for the local body elections again, instead of continuing the already stalled process.
This will mean a big embarrassment to the Jagan government, which has submitted an affidavit in the court that the situation in the state was not conducive for the elections because of the intensity of Coronavirus pandemic, which was the reason for the SEC for deferring the elections in March.
State minister for information and public relations Perni Nani said Jagan was more concerned about the lives of the people, rather than wining the local body elections.
“We have come to the conclusion that it is not advisable to conduct the elections now only after consulting the medical and health department authorities,” he said.
Nani pointed out that even the high court and other courts have been conducting hearings only through video conferencing because of Coronavirus threat.
“When the courts themselves cannot hold the hearings physically, how can the authorities conduct polls involving people?” he asked.
