SC dismisses Andhra Pradesh govt's plea against conducting Panchayat polls

The court said that the election process in this country has been held in far more difficult conditions

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition by the Y S Jagan government against State Election Commission's decision to hold Panchayat polls in view of vaccination drive.

A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Hrishikesh Roy said that the election process in this country has been held in far more difficult conditions.

The court also expressed unhappiness over resolutions passed by various employee unions against State Election Commissioner N Ramesh Kumar.

"Ego problem between two authorities is leading to lawlessness. We cannot allow lawlessness. How can resolutions be passed against N Ramesh Kumar? Elections have been held in far more difficult conditions and successfully," the bench said.

The court took objections to employee federations, seeking to intervene in the matter, saying their behaviour was "atrocious and undesirable".

An intervenor contended that Kerala saw spike in Covid-19 cases after Panchayat polls.

"It is very difficult to blame or judge anyone. States have conducted elections during Covid-19. Even Kerala did it and there is a spike now but we can't say polls were the reason," the bench said.

The Andhra Pradesh government challenged validity of the HC's order of January 21, setting aside the interim order of January 11, passed by a single judge which stayed the process of election to local bodies. It claimed the SEC did not consult the state government or health experts before taking the decision to conduct polls in four phases in February.

It claimed that the only consideration that seemed to have weighed in conducting polls was that SEC, Kumar was going to retire in March, 2021. Besides, it said the entire police force was to be vaccinated in February.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the AP government, said,"We have to ensure police and doctors get vaccinated and the polls can happen on March 1".