Andhra Pradesh HC stays parishad polls to be held on April 8

In its interim orders on Tuesday, Andhra Pradesh High Court has suspended the Zilla and Mandal parishad polls scheduled to be held in the state on April 8.

A single-judge bench reviewed the petitions filed by Janasean, BJP, etc parties challenging the State Election Commission's schedule following last year's notification. The petitioners contested that, as per earlier Supreme Court ruling, the election code should have been implemented at least four weeks ahead of the poll date.

The court has set the matter for further hearing on 15 April, while asking the SEC to file an affidavit.

The schedule of the local body polls was issued on 1 April by Nilam Sawhney, who took charge as the new SEC earlier that day.

Accusing that the new SEC, who till December last year was Andhra Pradesh Chief Secretary, has “become a rubber-stamp in the hands of the Reddy government,” TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu has announced a boycott of the polls

The notification for the Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies and Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies polls was issued in March last year by erstwhile SEC Ramesh Kumar and nominations were also filed. However, the polls could not be held at that time due high prevalence of Covid-19 cases in the state.

The opposition parties are demanding that the poll process be initiated afresh, alleging that the ruling YSRCP had resorted to violence and widespread intimidation, disallowing other party candidates from filing nominations. The TDP has complained to the SEC that an unusually high number of seats was “unanimously elected.”

The Janasena, in February, moved the AP high court seeking a fresh notification for the ZPTC, MPTC polls.

The parishad polls are in continuation of the Panchayat and municipal polls, which were held after a gap of a year in February and March respectively.