There seems to be no end to the legal battle between the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh and state election commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar on holding elections to urban and rural local bodies in the state.
Nimmagadda filed a counter-affidavit in the state high court on Thursday rejecting the state government’s affidavit that it would not be possible to conduct the elections to local bodies in February, as the official machinery would be busy with Coronavirus vaccination programme.
The government argued that as per the central government guidelines, the vaccination programme will be taken up in January and February. Not only the police department, but the employees of various other departments would be engaged in the vaccination programme.
“Vaccination programme is as important as local body election process. In fact, the government has to give more importance to vaccination because it is an issue of public health,” the government said in the affidavit.
Nimmagadda, however, brushed aside this argument. He said there were no indications of any vaccine being supplied to the state in the near future.
“It takes at least three to six months for the vaccination programme to commence in the country,” he said.
Even if the vaccination process begins, it would be done only on priority basis.
“So, the conduct of local body elections in February will no way affect the vaccination programme,” Nimmagadda said.
The SEC also told the court that elections were held in Bihar, Rajasthan and Hyderabad without any issue due to Coronavirus pandemic.
“The situation in AP is conducive for holding elections to local bodies,” he said.
He further said he had held discussions with all stakeholders, including officiasl of the state government, and only after that, it was decided to hold elections to the local bodies.
“So, the excuses being shown by the state government cannot be considered and I request the court to strike down its petition,” he pleaded.
