SC The Supreme Court (SC,) on the 18th of March, reviewed a petition filed by the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) against the decision of the State Election Commission (SEC) to uphold the upcoming local bodies elections.
A bench of SC judges, consisting of Chief Justice of India (CJI) S.A. Bobde, Justice B.R. Gavani and Justice Surya Kant, heard the matter and decided not to interfere in the SEC’s decision.
The Court said, “We do not see any reason why this court should interfere with the decision of the respondent – Election Commission to postpone the elections particularly since the postponement is due to possible outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID 19) epidemic in the country. We therefore decline to interfere with the said decision of the Election Commission.”
The Andhra Pradesh Elections Commission (APEC) decided to postpone the local bodies elections due at the end of the March due to the pandemic Novel Coronavirus.
N.Ramesh Kumar, the Election Commissioner Officer of the SEC, issued a notice concerning the outbreak of the Novel Coronavirus also known as COVID-19. In the issued notice, Mr. Kumar postponed the local bodies elections by 6 weeks and asked to lift the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) imposed in A.P.
The SC also supported the decision and asked the SEC to impose MCC four weeks ahead of the new polling dates.
Additional Solicitor General A.N.S. Nadkarni, who represented the State Government, argued and said the SEC has no right to decide the postponement of the elections without consulting the State Government.
On the other hand, Senior advocate Shekhar Naphade, appearing for the SEC said the YSRCP Government is not entitled to move the SC.
Agreeing on the argument of Advocate Nadkarni, the SC ordered the SEC to conduct a post decision consultation meeting with the A.P., Government. The meeting would be held before the SEC issues next dates for the local bodies elections in the State.
The MCC would also be imposed 4 weeks ahead of the said dates. The order read, “The Model Code of Conduct for the elections shall be reimposed four weeks before the date of polling.”
The Zila Parishad Territorial Constituency (ZPTC,) Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituency (MPTC,) and Gram Panchayat and Municipal elections were scheduled to be held from the 21st of March to the 29th of March.
