Local body elections postponed: Government moves Supreme Court against SEC

The Andhra Pradesh government has challenged the decision of the state election commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar to postpone the local bodies elections in the supreme court. A petition was filed in the Supreme Court on Monday asking for the orders to continue the election process of local bodies. The petition stated that the orders of the Commissioner for postponing the elections should be dismissed.

The court is expected to hear the petition on Tuesday. The Supreme Court registrar has been ordered by Justice Lalith to include the petition in the list of cases for tomorrow. Advocates of the AP government are expected to address the issue of retention of local bodies before the Justice Lalit bench.

On the other hand, the High Court has accepted a Lunch Motion petition filed by the AP High Court seeking to hold the elections as scheduled. The state government is concerned that if the election process does not end by 31 this month, there is a risk that the 14th Finance Commission would withdraw the funds of Rs. 5000 crore. The government feels that the decision of the state election commissioner would harm the state. Against this backdrop, the government has started it's war against justice.