Till the other day, the ruling YSRC party in Andhra Pradesh had been accusing state election commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar of playing the role of a villain and colluding with TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu.
But now, it is the turn of the opposition parties to accuse Nimmagadda of “compromising” with the ruling YSR Congress party.
The way the SEC was entertaining the requests of the YSRC, complimenting the state police and also IAS officers, besides the state government employees shows his change of attitude, say the opposition parties.
Interestingly, such criticism is coming from the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Jana Sena Parties which have little stakes in the local body elections.
These parties have taken serious exception to Nimmagadda announcing the revival of the election process for municipal elections from where it was stalled in March 2020, instead of calling a fresh election schedule.
“The SEC appears to have a secret understanding with the Jagan government in conducting municipal, ZPTC and MPTC elections as per the old schedule. This was despite the complaints that the ruling YSRC had captured a large number of municipal seats unanimously by threatening and intimidating the political rivals,” Congress working president Masthan Vali said.
He demanded that Nimmagadda disclose his secret pact with the Jagan government or whether he was under threat from the government.
Meanwhile, Nimmagadda was all praise for the government employees for successfully conducting the local body elections in three phases more or less peacefully and fairly.
He also had a word of appreciation for the police department for maintaining law and order in the villages.
