A bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Justice Sanjay Kaul and Justice Hrishikesh Roy, today dismissed a plea made by the Andhra Pradesh government against the AP State Election Commission’s decision to conduct Panchayat elections amidst the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination drive in the state.
(The state's High Court had already given the State Election Commission (SEC) the
green signal to conduct the elections some days back. However, the AP government had then approached the Supreme Court to overturn the verdict.)
The bench explained its verdict saying that elections had been conducted in the country in the past in far more trying times as well, and made clear its belief that the vaccination drive would in no way hinder the organisation of the rural local body elections.
The court even rebuked the state government for filing the appeal in the first place, and hinted at the fact that the latter had done so because of its "ego battle" with the SEC.
"We cannot accept the state government's plea as it is the result of the government's ego battle with the SEC, and is leading to lawlessness. We have, therefore, issued a verdict that sides with the law and upholds the ideals of the Constitution," it said.
The bench also expressed its displeasure at the various state employees’ unions for issuing resolutions against the Election Commissioner, and termed the act "highly deplorable".
With this decision,
the ongoing feud between the AP SEC and the Y S Jaganmohan Reddy government on the matter comes to an end.
The Panchayat elections will likely be held in four phases. The SEC Commissioner had earlier revealed that the first phase would be held on February 5, the second phase on February 9, the third phase on February 14 and the fourth and final phase on February 17.