Amaravati: Praveen Prakash rejects SEC charges

Amaravati: Reacting to the letter written by State Election Commissioner (SEC) N Ramesh Kumar to chief secretary asking him to transfer and restrain Praveen Prakash from panchayat election duties, Praveen Prakash, principal secretary to Chief Minister and principal secretary to Government GAD, wrote a letter to chief secretary countering the charges made by SEC.

Regarding the charge on his failure to respond to the letter of SEC on January 25, Praveen Prakash said that he replied to SEC stating that principal secretary, political, is not an independent office. Chief secretary is head of GAD and he will report to him. He questioned the propriety in making him accountable on the issue.

For the second charge of SEC on influencing collectors, SPs and other officials, Praveen Prakash said it was felt necessary to maintain status quo in the intervening period of judgements of High Court division bench and Supreme Court to avoid creating confusion about the gram panchayat elections. He questioned in what way he got involved in stopping the officers from participating in the video conference.

On the issue of his transfer from Visakhapatnam and Rangareddy districts for being prejudicial to the electoral process, he said that he was transferred in January 2006 as district collector Visakhapatnam.

But it was purely because of notifying a returning officer in anticipation of approval from Election Commission of India during a byelection in Visakhapatnam urban constituency.

Praveen Prakash said that he had submitted all these facts for kind attention of chief secretary to dispel any misconception.