<p>The Andhra Pradesh state election commission on Saturday directed the state DGP to confine senior YSRCP minster Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy to his residence till completion of the Panchayat polls in the state.</p>.<p>It also directed the police to prohibit the Panchayati Raj and Rural Development minister from speaking to the media.</p>.<p>The local polls are scheduled to be held in four phases, from February 9 to 21.</p>.<p>The exceptional orders were issued by Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar, who in the letter to DGP Gautam Sawang referred to the minister's statements at a press conference in Tirupati on Friday reportedly warning "the Collectors and Returning Officers not to obey the instructions of the madcap Election Commissioner.”</p>.<p>“If the officials follow the Commission's instructions (preventing forced unanimous elections), action will be taken against them; they will be blacklisted. This Commissioner will be there till March, 2021 end but our Government will continue beyond and we will take you to task. The Returning Officers are to disregard the Commissioner's directions and declare all unanimous elections. The Commissioner functioning in a way is to gain MP/MLC seat from the Telugu Desam Party. The people of the State are behind us. Unanimous elections shall continue,” Kumar quoted Peddireddy as having said in Tirupati and attached the related news paper clippings.</p>.<p>The opposition parties mainly the TDP are alleging that the ruling YSRCP is forcing “unanimous elections” in several areas.</p>.<p>Pointing to the minister's remarks “as an attempt to encourage violation of rule of law,” the SEC said that “unless corrective steps are taken … the election process and the holding of free and fair elections will be in peril and in danger of being vitiated.”</p>.<p>The minister from Chittoor district has been making controversial statements on the functioning of the SEC, with which the Jaganmohan Reddy government is at loggerheads.</p>.<p>“The minister will not have access to media to prevent making possible inciteful utterances that will have an adverse impact on the ongoing elections as well as on general law and order situation in Chittoor and elsewhere,” the SEC letter stated.</p>.<p>The AP Panchayat poll process was resumed after the Supreme Court has, last month, struck down the objections of the YSRCP government.</p>.<p>Last week, Peddireddy and another senior minister Botcha Satyanarayana complained to the AP assembly speaker T Sitaram, saying that the SEC's “unsubstantiated” remarks on them were libelous, “and amounted to breach of privilege.”</p>.<p>Earlier, in a letter to the state governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan, SEC Nimmagadda remarked that the ministers have crossed the election model code's “Laxman-rekha.”</p>
<p>The Andhra Pradesh state election commission on Saturday directed the state DGP to confine senior YSRCP minster Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy to his residence till completion of the Panchayat polls in the state.</p>.<p>It also directed the police to prohibit the Panchayati Raj and Rural Development minister from speaking to the media.</p>.<p>The local polls are scheduled to be held in four phases, from February 9 to 21.</p>.<p>The exceptional orders were issued by Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar, who in the letter to DGP Gautam Sawang referred to the minister's statements at a press conference in Tirupati on Friday reportedly warning "the Collectors and Returning Officers not to obey the instructions of the madcap Election Commissioner.”</p>.<p>“If the officials follow the Commission's instructions (preventing forced unanimous elections), action will be taken against them; they will be blacklisted. This Commissioner will be there till March, 2021 end but our Government will continue beyond and we will take you to task. The Returning Officers are to disregard the Commissioner's directions and declare all unanimous elections. The Commissioner functioning in a way is to gain MP/MLC seat from the Telugu Desam Party. The people of the State are behind us. Unanimous elections shall continue,” Kumar quoted Peddireddy as having said in Tirupati and attached the related news paper clippings.</p>.<p>The opposition parties mainly the TDP are alleging that the ruling YSRCP is forcing “unanimous elections” in several areas.</p>.<p>Pointing to the minister's remarks “as an attempt to encourage violation of rule of law,” the SEC said that “unless corrective steps are taken … the election process and the holding of free and fair elections will be in peril and in danger of being vitiated.”</p>.<p>The minister from Chittoor district has been making controversial statements on the functioning of the SEC, with which the Jaganmohan Reddy government is at loggerheads.</p>.<p>“The minister will not have access to media to prevent making possible inciteful utterances that will have an adverse impact on the ongoing elections as well as on general law and order situation in Chittoor and elsewhere,” the SEC letter stated.</p>.<p>The AP Panchayat poll process was resumed after the Supreme Court has, last month, struck down the objections of the YSRCP government.</p>.<p>Last week, Peddireddy and another senior minister Botcha Satyanarayana complained to the AP assembly speaker T Sitaram, saying that the SEC's “unsubstantiated” remarks on them were libelous, “and amounted to breach of privilege.”</p>.<p>Earlier, in a letter to the state governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan, SEC Nimmagadda remarked that the ministers have crossed the election model code's “Laxman-rekha.”</p>
