AP Congress leader Gurunadham supports SEC decision on gram panchayat polls

Krishna (Andhra Pradesh) [India], January 9 (ANI): Andhra Pradesh Congress leader V Gurunadham on Saturday welcomed the State Election Commissioner's decision to conduct local body elections in the state.

"State Election Commissioner (SEC) is a constitutional body and he has the right to issue notification according to Article 243 of the Indian Constitution. So, he has performed his duty. But the government is not interested to implement the election schedule. The government of Andhra Pradesh and SEC are contradicting each other, they are fighting like street vendors. This is not good for both parties," he said while speaking to ANI.
Amid the tussle with the Andhra Pradesh government over local body elections, the SEC Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar on Friday announced the schedule of elections of gram panchayats in four phases beginning from February 5.
The SEC also wrote a letter to chief secretary on the same day, alleging that the government is not in favour of holding elections during the tenure of the present Commissioner and will hold elections only after his demitting office.
Taking a dig at the Andhra Pradesh government, V Gurunadham said, "The SEC has rightly geared up to conduct elections but the government is not interested. What is to be done? Congress is in favour of the election commission because elections should be conducted in a democracy, the interest of govt is a different matter."
"Elections are taking place in several places like Rajasthan. Here also elections should be conducted, they should not be stopped due to personal vendetta. Congress is of the opinion that the orders of the constitutional authority should be followed," he further added.
The government has been raising objections regarding local body elections including gram panchayat polls. The government has said that the officials would be engaged in the vaccination programme and the conduct of elections would not be possible.
The SEC will issue the election notification on January 23 for Phase-I, January 27 for Phase-II, January 31 for Phase-III and February 4 for Phase-IV. The last date for nominations is January 27, 31, February 4 and 8 respectively.
Polling where will be held on February 5, 9, 13 and 17. Voting will take place from 6.30 am to till 3.30 pm. The counting of votes will also be done over through the four phases. (ANI)