Andhra Pradesh High Court reserves judgement on PR polls

Nelapadu (Amaravati): The Division Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court comprising Chief Justice Arup Kumar Goswami and Justice C Pravin Kumar reserved the judgement on panchayat elections on Tuesday.

The division bench continued the hearing of the arguments of both the State Election Commission (SEC) and the State government on the second day on Tuesday. However, the bench dismissed the implead petitions filed by the associations of the employees and the teachers who demanded the court to hear their arguments regarding the conduct of elections.

They pointed out that if the teachers fall victims to corona virus, students would also be affected. The division bench refused to entertain their pleas.

It may be recalled that the SEC preferred an appeal before the Division Bench, after a single judge bench stayed the election schedule released by the SEC.

Senior advocate Adinarayana Rao on behalf of State Election Commission and DV Sitarama Murthy for the State Election Commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar argued that the government should not interfere after the commencement of election process.

Adinarayana said the judgment given by the single judge staying the panchayat election schedule is against the Supreme Court orders. He recalled that the Apex Court supported the decision of the SEC and refused to interfere in the election process in its earlier order.

Advocate-General S Sriram putting forward his argument stated that it was not proper on the part of the SEC to appeal before the division bench.

After the completion of the hearings, the division bench reserved the judgement.