Chandrababu Naidu seeks fresh polls under Election Commission lens

By Express News Service

VIJAYAWADA: The ruling YSRC on Sunday cried foul over the announcement of State Election Commissioner N Ramesh Kumar to halt the local body elections for six weeks. Interestingly, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu too trained guns on the SEC and demanded conduct of local body elections afresh to ensure a level-playing field for the candidates of all Opposition parties on a par with the ruling party.

Naidu also found fault with Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy for not taking a serious view of the coronavirus threat.

Speaking to the media on Sunday, the Opposition Leader pointed out that 69.8 per cent of MPTC posts were declared as unanimously won by YSRC in Kadapa district. In Chittoor district also, 37.4 per cent of MPTCs were declared unanimous in favour of the YSRC. 

“Is this democracy?’’ he questioned. Alleging that the SEC failed to take effective steps to control the YSRC “atrocities”, Naidu said fresh elections should be held in AP under the supervision of the Election Commission of India.

Casting aspersions on the effectiveness of the police, Naidu also wanted the deployment of CRPF and Central paramilitary forces to create confidence among voters in the elections. He recalled how the police threatened Opposition candidates to withdraw nominations.

Refuting the caste-based aspersions made by Jagan against SEC N Ramesh Kumar, Naidu said the TDP had not recommended Ramesh Kumar’s name for the post. “But somehow, final selection was made based on the recommendations of the then Governor ESL Narasimhan,’’ he said.

Naidu alleged that Jagan was thinking that he is above the Constitution and all other institutions in the country.

“He has no respect for the Constitution. Jagan should realise that the same election authority conducted 2019 elections in which his party won 151 MLA seats,’’ he said. Naidu questioned as to why Jagan was not taking serious note of the coronavirus threat.

Cancel entire election process: Pawan Kalyan

Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan said the EC should cancel the entire election process. Speaking to media persons in Rajamahendravaram on Sunday after the announcement of the State Election Commission (SEC) postponing the elections for six weeks in view of COVID-19 scare, he said threats and blackmails by the ruling party leaders and activists for unanimous results has defeated the very purpose of the elections for local bodies

BJP welcomes SEC decision, demands CM’s apology

Vijayawada: Welcoming the State Election Commission’s decision to defer the local body elections by six weeks, the BJP demanded that the entire process be started afresh.

The State leaders also slammed the Chief Minister and his partymen for casting aspersions against a constitutional body (SEC) and demanded an apology for remarks against the State election commissioner. Kanna Lakshminarayana welcomed the move and alleged that YSRC dispensation was more dangerous than coronavirus

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