Supreme Court again refuses to stay AP High Court order on SEC

New Delhi: The AP State Election Commission's efforts to get a favourable order in the Supreme Court here on Thursday met with failure as the apex court declined to grant a stay on Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar's reinstatement as sought by the commission.

However, the SC while rejecting the plea for stay, admitted the petition for hearing. It clubbed the SEC petition with that of the state government and said it would hear both the petitions next week, after directing the respondents to file their counters.

Last week, the SC which refused to grant stay on the High Court order, made some serious comments on the issuance of ordinance by the state government to reduce the term of the SEC and appointing a new SEC with retired high court judge rank judicial officers.

Asking the state government not to meddle with the Constitutional institutions, the bench expressed doubts over the intentions behind the promulgation of the ordinance.