The Supreme Court (SC) on the 25th of January, gave a green signal to the Andhra Pradesh Grama Panchayat elections.
A two bench judges comprising of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Hrishikesh Roy directed the State Election Commission to conduct the Panchayat elections as scheduled.
The bench was reviewing a petition filed by the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) Government.
The YSRCP moved the Supreme Court, challenging the verdict of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, which gave approval to conduct the elections.
On the evening of the 21st of January, the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) moved the Supreme Court against the decision of the State HC.
The YSRCP Government in their petition expressed concern towards people regarding their health. The Party said, conducting elections amid the outbreak of the Novel Coronavirus and ongoing vaccination drive would be impossible.
The last hope of the Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy led YSRCP Government broke with the Apex Court’s verdict.
With this, the Top Court also dismissed all petitions filed to this extent.
The ongoing tussle between the SEC and the State Government started when N. Ramesh Kumar, the State Election Commissioner of A.P., proposed to conduct the local body elections. The first proposal for holding elections to the panchayats was in March 2020.
The Andhra Pradesh Grama Panchayat elections are scheduled to begin from the 9th of February and would continue till the 21st of of February.
The elections are divided in four phases in the State.
The notification for the first phase of the Gram Panchayat elections was issued on the 23rd of January and polling would be held on the 9th of February.
For the second phase, the notification would be issued on the 27th of January and polling on the 13th of February.
The third phase polling is scheduled for the 17th of February, for which the notification would be issued on the 31st of January.
The final phase polling would be held on the 21st of February and the notification would be issued on the 4th of February, according to the SECs schedule.
Stay tuned for further updates.
