Jagan backs down on panchayat fight
The Jagan government, which until yesterday had insisted on not holding local body elections during the corona, now seems to have backtracked on high court intervention and other reasons. The government has announced its readiness to co-operate with the Election Commission during the hearing of a case filed in the High Court on the conduct of panchayat elections. The High Court also accepted the proposal made by the public prosecutor to this effect. With this, it seems that the government is preparing for the panchayat elections soon. Officials will be given favorable dates to finalize the dates for the February elections.
Lemongrass Happy on the latest developments …
Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar and other members of the Election Commission were happy to get the upper hand in the High Court against the YCP government for stubbornly ignoring his word on the conduct of panchayat elections in the AP. Nimmagadda hopes that the High Court will finally give its assurance that the Election Commission will co-operate as desired by the Election Commission and that there will be no further difficulties for the elections as the government has not raised any specific objections to the conduct of the panchayat elections in February. Orders are also being issued to the authorities to this effect.
The lemonade that started the arrangements
Whether the High Court verdict came like this or not, Nimmagadda immediately stepped into the field. Orders have been issued to hold elections for the new city panchayats set up in AP. The municipal department has been directed to prepare a list of voters along with other panchayats. The municipality has also taken steps to that effect, with Nimmagadda instructing that the voters’ list be ready by January 4. Municipal commissioners have been instructed by the municipality to prepare a list of panchayat election voters based on the latest Assembly election voters list. The newly formed city panchayats are Jaggayyapeta in Krishna district, Kondapalli, Akividu in West Godavari district, Gurjala Dachepalli in Guntur district, Darshi in Prakasam district, Buchireddy Palam in Nellore district, Penukonda in Anantapur district, Kuppam in Chittoor district, Bethancharla in Kurnool district and Kamalapuram in Kadapa district.
Nimmagadda ball into the court …
The High Court directed the government to immediately set up a committee with three officials to consult with Election Commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh on the conduct of the panchayat elections. To this end, the government has set up a committee to consult with Nimmagadda. The High Court said the ball would no longer go into the lemonade court from then on. During this meeting, Nimmagadda will talk to the officials and finalize the election dates. In fact, the tenure of Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar will end on March 31. In the meantime, the government seems to have felt that there should be no problems with the conduct of panchayat elections that are not affiliated with the parties.