VIJAYAWADA: The ruling YSR Congress has objected to the decision by the state election commission to freeze all unanimous Gram Panchayat results of Chittoor and Guntur districts. YSRC MLA Jogi Ramesh said, “there is no provision in the law” to nullify unanimous elections.
Ramesh challenged SEC Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar to go and file a petition in the court along with TD chief Chandrababu Naidu if they felt unanimous elections were undemocratic.
Ramesh said Chandrababu Naidu staying in Hyderabad was doing dirty politics in Andhra Pradesh. “Naidu had appointed an incompetent person as the State Election Commissioner (SEC),” he alleged.
Noting the failure of SEC Ramesh Kumar to transfer his vote from Hyderabad to his native place, Duggirala in AP, Ramesh said, “One who does not even know the basics is functioning as our Election Commissioner.” He did not even know “vote can be done only at a place where one resided for 6 months.”
The MLA said the unanimous results will depend on how the people of a village think. He questioned why at all should the SEC be freezing the results. “Presidential, MP, MLA and MLC elections are done at times in a unanimous manner. Then, how the SEC should oppose unanimous polls in the gram panchayat elections, he asked.
He said more than 90 per cent of the YSRC-backed candidates will win the elections. “Was there any complaint that the YSRC ever forced anyone not to file nominations,” he asked.
Ramesh said Chandrababu was leading politics on to the wrong direction by fighting the government with the help of the SEC. He demanded that the SEC cancel TD’s election manifesto. The SEC should take disciplinary action against Chandrababu Naidu for violation of norms, he said.
MLA Ramesh alleged: “SEC Ramesh Kumar has taken the decision to hold the unanimous results in abeyance as he wants to help TD. Chandrababu belongs to Chittoor and the SEC hails from Guntur district.”
COMPLAINT AGAINST NAIDU
Meanwhile, the YSR Congress lodged a complaint against the Telugu Desam chief, saying he violated the Model Code of Conduct in the ongoing gram panchayat elections. YSRC state general secretary Lella Appireddy has submitted the complaint to SEC Ramesh Kumar here on Friday.
Appireddy said Chandrababu Naidu violated the election norms by releasing an election manifesto for grama panchayat polls. The GP polls are conducted on a non-party basis under the democratic system but Naidu made a laughing stock out of himself by releasing the TD manifesto, he said.
He said the TD manifesto is largely circulated among the masses through TD cadres, newspapers, the electronic media and through numerous social media platforms. There is no use with the SEC’s action of suspending the TD manifesto five days after the lodging of a complaint against it.
Appi Reddy said the “simple” action of the SEC, of suspending the manifesto without taking any serious action against Chandrababu Naidu, was ridiculous and it shocked people. He recalled that the SEC wrote letters to the governor with “objectionable” comments and allegations against YSRC ministers and CM Jagan.
He also noted that while the SEC initiated action against higher officials, he did not take any action against Chandrababu Naidu despite clear evidence the TD chief violated the Model Code of Conduct for the elections. Appireddy demanded that the SEC take stern action against Naidu by registering criminal cases against him.
