The AP local body elections issue has ignited a firestorm between an official of the constitutional body and another in the government. The confrontation between AP Election Commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar and Chief Secretary Nilam Sawhney has intensified further. Election Commissioner Nimmagadda wrote a letter to Chief Secretary Nilam Sawhney asking her to prepare for the local body elections in February. In her response, the CS citing the rising Corona cases in AP termed that conditions were not conducive for holding elections. Reacting to CS’ response, the Election Commissioner in a strongly-worded letter stated, “You have no authority to question the Election Commission, which is a constitutional body.” This has led to a cold war between the AP state Election Commissioner and the Chief Secretary.
Suspense over video conference with collectors
The video conference scheduled for Wednesday evening was cancelled by the AP Election Commissioner over non-cooperation by the state government. Nimmagadda in a letter to the CS asked all district collectors to be ready for a video conference at 10 am on Thursday to discuss the election arrangements. However, no reply was received from the Chief Secretary so far. Will, there be a video conference with collectors at 10 am today?
Will the government cooperate for the conference?
There is a lot of speculation as to what decision the Election Commissioner will take if the collectors do not attend the video conference. Will disciplinary action be taken against collectors if they skip the meeting called by the Election Commissioner? New doubts are being raised whether the Election Commissioner has powers to take action. But it seems collectors are waiting for CS’ orders. Information is that the collectors are willing to attend if they receive information from CS that they will have to attend the conference. What decision the CS would take has become a topic of discussion.
Will Nimmagadda go to court again?
Election Commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar having approached the AP Governor is done complaining, as the government didn’t pay heed. On the other hand, the CS Nilam Sawhney made it clear that the elections would be held when the condition will be favourable. Will Nimmagadda go to court again if the government does not cooperate? Well, this case is a totally different one. On the other hand, the reason given by the government also cannot be dismissed easily as it holds relevance. In this context, believing that elections can be conducted by the court is a mere illusion. If Nimmagadda files such a petition, it should be seen when the court would take it up.
We will give the latest notification: Nimmagadda
It seems that Election Commissioner Nimmagadda has decided to cancel the notification released earlier and issue a new one. If a new notification is issued, the Model Code of Conduct would come into effect and in such cases, the government machinery would be in the hands of the Election Commission. It will be interesting to see how this faceoff between the State Election Commissioner and the Chief Secretary unfolds.
