Andhra Pradesh HC Hears YSRC’s Plea on AP CEO’s Postal Ballot Memos

Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh High Court on Thursday heard a petition filed by YSRC state general secretary Lella Appireddy seeking cancellation of the two memos issued by Chief Electoral Officer Mukesh Kumar Meena on the norms to be adopted for deciding on the validity of postal ballots, which are said to contradict the guidelines of the Election Commission of India.

A two-judge bench headed by Justices Satti Subba Reddy and Venkata Jyothirmai Pratapa heard the plea moved through a lunch motion.

Petitioner’s counsels P. Veera Reddy and Vivek Chandrasekhar contended that the AP CEO has exceeded his authority while issuing the two memos. They submitted that though the ECI had issued guidelines on the issue stating that the attesting officer’s signature is sufficient on the postal ballot declaration form to consider them as valid for taking up for counting of votes.

The petitioner’s counsels argued that the AP CEO’s memos contradict the ECI guidelines. They said they have filed the petition only to ensure impartiality in the counting of postal ballots.

The court asked the ECI for details of the memos issued by the AP CEO on May 25 and May 27. ECI’s counsel Avinash Desai submitted that the AP CEO had sought clarification on the postal ballots issue. Desai said they are withdrawing the second para in the memo issued on May 25 dealing with a direction to collect specimen signatures of attesting officers at the facilitation centres along with their names and designation.

The ECI’s counsel further said they are withdrawing the memo issued on May 27. He informed the court that the ECI will issue a fresh direction on Thursday.

The ECI direction said, “Form 13 A where the attesting officer, as authorised by the Returning Officer, put his signature identifying the elector based on his personal knowledge / identification, but has not mentioned his name and designation or put his seal, can be considered valid by the RO for further processing of the postal ballot at the time of counting.”

The petitioner’s counsels informed the court that they are going to file an amendment petition following the ECI’s fresh direction issued on Thursday. They asked the court to take up the hearing on their amendment petition.

The court opined that it will take permission from the Chief Justice, following which the petition could be taken up for hearing through a house motion on Friday.