Supreme Court to hear petition on postponement of local body elections today

The petition filed by the government of Andhra Pradesh challenging the postponement of local bodies elections in the state is set to be heard in the Supreme Court today. A bench headed by Chief Justice Bobde will hear the case. In its petition, the government said that it was behind the postponement of state election commission chief Ramesh Kumar postponing the election of local bodies without informing the state government. The government has asked the Supreme Court to order the election commissioner as per the earlier schedule. In its petition, the state government said that it was taking all measures to combat the coronavirus.

"The elections are being conducted in accordance with the directions of the High Court. At least the State Election Commissioner has postponed these without informing the government," AP government said. However, state election commissioner Ramesh Kumar said the election was postponed with caution because the centre was declared coronavirus as a national disaster. Under these circumstances, it is interesting to see how the Supreme Court would do in this matter.

A petition was filed in the AP High Court as well on the same issue. However, the High Court has said that the decision will be taken after the Supreme Court decision. On the other hand, SEC has made clear that local body elections in Maharashtra and Bengal, considering the coronavirus outbreak, which is not an ill will.