AP SEC files counter over unanimous results in ZPTC, MPTC elections, High Court to hear arguments today

Andhra Pradesh State Election Commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh told the High Court that they have privileges in the conduction of elections. He said the Election Commission has the power to postpone, cancel and reschedule elections. He said the Election Commission has the power to make decisions and issue directions as per the circumstances. He said that the State Election Commission has all the powers in line with Central Election Commission. He said the Election Commission has the power to intervene impartially in case of irregularities in the election process. He said 126 ZPTCs and 2,363 MPTCs were unanimous during the election process last year, adding that the number of unanimous results were extraordinary compared to the previous year. He said the commission had received numerous complaints about threats and temptations during the filing of nominations and hence it was decided to hold an inquiry to ascertain how fair the unanimous results was. In view of these details it was requested that the writ petitions be dismissed and the interim orders quashed.

In the 657-page counter, Nimmagadda referred to nearly 25 judgements given by the courts on various occasions. It is pertinent to note that he did not mention at least one word about Form-10 (the document issued by the Returning Officer declaring that the candidate was unanimously elected) which was mainly mentioned by the petitioners. The powers of the entire Election Commission were mentioned in the counter.

SEC Nimmagadda inquired whether the distribution of slips to voters in Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Guntur and Tirupati was complete. He held a teleconference with the collectors of Visakhapatnam, Krishna, Guntur and Chittoor districts and the commissioners of the respective city administrations on Sunday. He ordered to keep a close watch on the distribution of money and alcohol in the wake of the end of the campaign on Monday evening. It was suggested that additional teams be set up in collaboration with the police.

Meanwhile, the State Chief Secretary Adityanath Das on Sunday met SEC Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar at the State Election Commission office. It is learnt that the two discussed the arrangements for the municipal elections. On the other hand, it is learnt that Panchayati Raj Commissioner Girija Shankar on Sunday submitted a report to the SEC on the manner in which gram panchayat wise counting and re-counting was done in the panchayat elections. Earlier, the SEC sought report on the counting trend.