On the 7th of April, the Andhra Pradesh (A.P.,) High Court (HC,) gave a green signal to conduct the Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituency (MPTC) and the Zila Parishad Territorial Constituency (ZPTC) elections.
This development came a day after a single bench judge of A.P., HC put a stay order on the scheduled MPTC and the ZPTC elections.
The bench reviewed a petition filed by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and stayed the election notification. In the filed petition, the TDP said the 4 week election code also called Model Code of Conduct (MCC) was not imposed as per the directions of the Supreme Court. The TDP President Nara Chandrababu Naidu even decided to boycott the elections if held. The Court even adjourned the case to the 15th of April.
However, a day after, another bench of A.P., HC struck down the orders of the single bench judge. As per fresh orders, the Andhra Pradesh Government and the State Election Commission of A.P., could conduct the elections as per the notification, scheduled on the 8th of April. The results which were scheduled to be announced on the 10th of April, would not be announced until further notice.
In addition, the Court also asked the SEC to give full details of the election notification.
Meanwhile, arrangements for the statewide elections have already been completed. The Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) Government made all the necessary arrangements for the allocation of election staff, security personnel and the movement of ballot boxes and ballot papers.
Neelam Sawhney, the newly appointed State Election Commissioner (SEC) released the notification for 513 ZPTC seats and 7,230 MPTC seats. According to the released notification, the elections would be held on the 8th of April.
On 31st of March, Ms. Sawhney assumed the charge as the new SEC, after N. Ramesh Kumar retired.
The decision to conduct elections was taken after conducting a meeting with the Andhra Pradesh Chief Secretary Aditya Nath Das, the State District Collectors and police officials.
The polling would be held from 7:00 A.M., to 5:00 P.M. Re-polling would be held on the 9th of April, if necessary. For the MPTC and ZPTC elections,19, 002 and 2,092 candidates are in the fray, respectively.
Stay tuned for further updates.
