No reason to delay MPTC, ZPTC elections: SEC

Amaravati: A new controversy seems to be over the conduct of MPTC and ZPTC elections in Andhra Pradesh. While State Election Commissioner Nilam Sawhney observed that there is no reason to delay the MPTC and ZPTC elections which are pending for the past one year, the Opposition parties -- TDP, Congress, Jana Sena and BJP decided to boycott the elections.

The BJP even filed a house motion in the High Court opposing the decision of the SEC to hold MPTC and ZPTC from where they were stopped in the past. The SEC would be filing a counter by Saturday. The opposition parties are demanding that the previous elections be cancelled, and fresh notification be given since a lot of irregularities, including threatening the candidates and voters had taken place then.

The entire opposition even boycotted the meeting convened by the SEC stating that this process should have taken place before issuing notification.

On the other hand, differences had cropped up in TDP over its decision to boycott the elections. Party vice-president Jyothula Nehru resigned from his post. Even the senior-most leader Ashok Gajapati Raju is unhappy with the decision. He felt that the opinion of the cadre should have been taken before announcing the boycott.

Meanwhile, speaking to the media, the SEC said that she issued notification after taking into consideration all the aspects. The notification was issued to resume the election process from where it was stopped last year as the officials expressed readiness to conduct the elections. Holding elections was important as the State needs to take up Covid vaccination on a large scale after the polls, she said.