AP High Court Division Bench Gives Green Signal to MPTC and ZPTC Elections

The ambiguity over the MPTC and ZPTC elections in Andhra Pradesh is over as the state High Court gave the green signal to hold elections tomorrow. The Division Bench of the High Court ruled on the conduct of the Parishad elections. The division bench struck down the stay given by the single judge stating that the election could be held. However, it stated that the results should not be announced until further orders. The court asked the SEC to give full details of the election notification during the hearing. However, the trial was adjourned due to non-submission of proper documents. The bench questioned the SEC as to why it did not follow the Supreme Court guidelines during the trial.

It is learned that the SEC has said the court that the Election Commission has full powers over the conduct of elections. Also, it made clear that Varla Ramaiah petition be not considered as he has no stakes in the election schedule and opined he cannot file the writ petition.

A single-judge bench hearing the petitions filed by the BJP and TDP on Tuesday seeking stay of the polls on Tuesday struck down the BJP's petition. However, the court hearing the petition filed by the TDP commented that the SEC had failed to implement the 4-week election code as per the Supreme Court guidelines. The court adjourned the polls and adjourned the case till April 15. SEC has filed a House Motion Petition in this regard.

Elections for 516 ZPTC and 7,258 MPTC seats across the state will be held tomorrow with the court ruling. There are 2,092 candidates in fray for the ZPTC election and 19,002 candidates in the MPTC elections. Already 126 ZPTC positions and 2,371 MPTC positions have been unanimous. Arrangements for the statewide elections have already been completed. The government has made arrangements for the allocation of election staff, security personnel as well as the movement of ballot boxes and ballot papers.

Nilam Sawhney, who took over as the state election commissioner on the 1st of this month, issued the notification on the same day. Where the process stopped in the last year.