Andhra Pradesh government contends Ordinance not mala fide

Nelapadu (Amaravati): The State government in its counter affidavit and the common counter affidavit filed in the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Saturday denied that Ordinance was issued to cut short the tenure of the State Election Commissioner.

Both the affidavits were with Principal Secretary of Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Gopala Krishna Dwivedi as one of the respondents.

The common counter affidavit was filed in response to the writ petitions filed by 10 petitioners—Thandava Yogesh, Vadde Sobhanadreswara Rao, Mallela Sravan Kumar and another, Varla Ramaiah, Ganduri Mahesh, Dr Kamineni Srinivas, Muthamsetti Lakshmana Siva Prasad, Dr Maddipati Sailaja, K Jithendra Babu and D Kiran. He contended that the writ petitions filed by the petitioners are representative writ petitions and may not be maintainable under law.

The counter affidavit was filed in response to the writ petition filed by Dr N Ramesh Kumar who challenged his removal from office as the State Election Commissioner.

The respondent, Gopala Krishna Dwivedi, while referring to the impugned Ordinance and rules, said that they satisfy the ingredients of the Article 213 of the Constitution. The counter also pointed out that the Ordinance also mentioned the amendment to the Panchayat Raj Act to conduct free and fair elections.

The Governor enjoys the power to fix or change the tenure of the State Election Commissioner.

The counter stated that the tenure of the State Election Commissioner and the service rules should be considered separately and not to be clubbed. It was also stated that the government proposed that the office of the State Election Commissioner and the service rules should be on par with the High Court judge.