Andhra Pradesh: The High Court gave shock to YSRCP Government?

The High Court of Andhra Pradesh has given a never before rude shock to the YSRCP Government. It has cancelled the MPTC, ZPTC elections held on April 8, 2021.

The court ordered the State Election Commission (SEC) to hold fresh elections by issuing a new notification. The HC said that the April 8 polls were unconstitutional and not in accordance with the Supreme Court orders for giving 4 weeks gap between the polling day and the start of the election code.

The latest orders of the court came based on a petition filed by TDP leader Varla Ramaiah. From the beginning, the local body elections have been posing a variety of challenges and setbacks to the Jagan Reddy regime.

The Government tried to hastily hold these elections in March last year itself but the sudden surge in Coronavirus first wave infections forced the elections to be postponed. Once again, the SEC restarted the elections in April this year. New Election Commissioner Nilam Sawhney confidently went ahead with her plan and overlooked the constitutional requirements.

When she issued the poll notification, a case was filed. The court ordered on April 6 for stopping the election process. The SEC challenged the order and got midterm relief to hold the polling on April 8. The counting was stopped based on the court midterm order. Now, in its final order, the HC cancelled the polls altogether.