TPCC president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy today wrote an open letter to the Governor of the State Tamilisai Soundararajan and urged her to intervene in the issue of the conduct of the upcoming municipal elections in two municipal corporations and five municipalities of the state and stop the conduct of the elections by keeping in view of the sudden rise in the number of Covid 19 cases.
He urged her to hold the elections after the drop in Covid 19 cases. He said that The State Election Commission was a constitutional authority that came into existence in 1993 after the promulgation of the 73rd and 74th Amendments to the constitution of India to conduct elections to rural and urban local bodies in the states. “Since you are the appointing authority of the State Election Commission (SEC) as per article 243 in the Constitution of India, we are bringing to your kind notice the unbecoming conduct and the highly biased manner in which the SEC of Telangana in conducting the ongoing municipal elections in 2 municipal corporations and 5 municipalities.
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Right from the hasty preparation of electoral rolls to the hurried allocation of reservations to the continuance of municipal elections during a national emergency (as the Supreme Court of India described the present situation), the present SEC has plunged to new lows in the conduct of free and fair elections,” he said while noting that the present SEC has discontinued the practice of holding all-party meetings before any local body elections.
He alleged that the commissioner of the SEC didn’t want to meet delegations of opposition parties who wish to represent on election-related issues and added that Even after the Covid-19 pandemic second wave touched new record numbers, the notification and reservations were hurriedly announced on 15 April 2021 by the commissioner. Reddy said that the schedule notification and reservations were hurried announced on the same day, on 15 April and nominations were commenced from April 16.
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He told the Governor that the notification was issued after the huge second Covid wave started in the country and also in Telangana. He alleged that the SEC was following the directives of “their political masters” to try and finish polling on 30 April so that the voters are not influenced by the likely adverse result for TRS in Nagarjunasagar by-election counting on May 2.
SOURCE-NSS
