SEC took Centre nod to cancel polls

MHA reportedly took serious note of YSRC violence against oppn

The Andhra Pradesh State Election Commission (SEC) has on Sunday taken the decision to postpone elections to the local bodies in consultation with the Centre. State Election Commissioner N. Ramesh Kumar is said to have spoken to the top brass at the ministry of home affairs (MHA) on Sunday morning and announced the postponement only after the latter gave a go ahead.

Though the SEC cited coronavirus as the primary reason for postponement, official sources told Deccan Chronicle that the MHA took serious note of incidents of violence, wherein candidates of opposition parties were attacked and coerced to withdraw their nominations by the ruling YSRC leaders and cadre. The BJP candidates coming under attack from YSRC men didn’t go down well with the central leadership of the saffron party, sources said. Swift developments took place since Saturday evening, when a three-member BJP delegation comprising MPs G.V.L. Narasimha Rao, C.M. Ramesh and T.G. Venkatesh met Union home minister

Amit Shah and complained against the violence unleashed on their party cadre by ruling party leaders and their followers.

Meanwhile, live footages of ruling party leaders dragging candidates of other parties to election authorities and forcing them to withdraw nominations left the SEC in an embarrassing situation. “When institutions and officials backed by the

Constitution do not act, who will come to the rescue of victims,” a senior SEC official lamented.

The Article 341-k of the Constitution makes the removal of SEC a tough procedure, wherein the Parliament alone can remove the SEC chief by passing a resolution, with two-thirds majority, after debating and establishing that the respective SEC had erred.