A.P. High Court reserves order on hearing Capital pleas
The Andhra Pradesh High Court reserved its orders on the petitions filed separately by the TDP and BJP seeking interim orders to stall all the proceedings resumed by the State Election Commission (SEC) after last May for the conduct of elections to MPTCs and ZPTCs in the State.
The two parties also wanted the High Court to issue orders to the SEC to impose the Model Code of Conduct for four weeks prior to the conduct of elections. The orders are likely to be passed on Tuesday.
Justice U Durgaprasad Rao heard the arguments for the third consecutive day on Sunday in the house motion petitions filed separately by the TDP, BJP and JSP.
Counsel for SEC C V Mohan Reddy said the Commission has the powers to modify or renotify election process as per the Rule 7 of AP Panchayat Raj election conduct rules. Mohan Reddy also informed the court that the Supreme Court also gave orders to resume the election process where it was stalled due to Covid pandemic last year. Mohan Reddy said as Form 10 was already issued to the unanimously elected candidates, issuing a fresh notification will lead to legal hassles.
Government pleader C Suman said there is a need to complete the polls at the earliest as the government is chalking out plans to intensify the Covid vaccination drive. The JSP petition will come up for hearing on Tuesday.