Amaravati: Staff unions decry poll schedule release

Amaravati: As expected the release of schedule for panchayat elections by the State Election Commission kicked up a controversy with ruling YSRCP leaders and ministers denouncing the 'unilateral decision' by the State Election Commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar. On the other hand, state government employee associations on Saturday expressed strong objections to the announcement of polls schedule and said that they cannot take part in the election duties in view of the pandemic and vaccination preparations.

Addressing media persons here, AP JAC Amaravati Revenue Service Association state president Bopparaju Venkateswarlu, expressing concern over the differences between SEC and state government, said criticised that the SEC had released the schedule even as the chief secretary explained the situation and expressed the inability of the government to conduct polls.

The association leader said that nearly 6,0000 state employees were afflicted with coronavirus. As the government employees have to conduct elections amidst Covid pandemic, the SEC should reconsider its decision. He made it clear that the employees are not ready to discharge their election duties.

AP Police officers' Association state president J Srinivasa Rao expressed concern over the sudden release of panchayat election schedule. In a statement, he said 109 police men lost their lives due to coronavirus while discharging their duties and 14,000 personnel were infected. He said police have to be vaccinated on priority basis as per the Central government guidelines. He appealed the SEC to reconsider its decision.

Meanwhile, AP Teachers Association leaders said that they will boycott the panchayat election duties. They said that they were not ready to participate in election process as second wave of coronavirus was underway. The teachers associations stated that they will be busy with Covid vaccination programme.

APNGOs association state president N Chandrasekhara Reddy said that chief secretary has informed the SEC of the inability of the state government to conduct panchayat elections at this juncture. Describing release of election schedule "undemocratic", Chandrasekhar Reddy claimed that Covid spread after elections in Hyderabad and Bihar.

He said people were afraid of elections amidst scare of UK strain and bird flu. He said if necessary, they would approach courts and boycott the election duties. Stating that nine lakh employees were discharging duties, he questioned would the SEC assure safety to employees' lives as several hundreds of employees had lost their lives due to corona.