As expected, a real constitutional crisis is created in Andhra Pradesh. It has reached a point of no return. Collectors of all the 13 districts in the State did not make any arrangements for the panchayat election process. The nominations would have to be accepted from today but there are no indications of any arrangements for this. No returning officers are appointed so far. No information is provided to the contestants about the venues for submitting nominations.

All the District Collectors have ignored the orders given by State Election Commissioner N Ramesh Kumar. They simply followed the unofficial instructions of the Jagan Reddy regime. They did not attend the video conference held by the SEC two days ago. That cannot be seen as a major violation. But, not making arrangements for receiving nominations is indeed a visible violation.

With this, suspense is prevailing in the AP Secretariat and in official circles what steps the SEC would take next. Already, the Election Commissioner transferred two Collectors and several SPs, DSPs, CIs and SIs on charges of violations and disobedience. But the Government had not taken any action in this regard. Now, the situation has further deteriorated. All the District Collectors have transgressed the orders of the State Election Commissioner.

The Government has said that the election process would not start unless its petition is disposed of in the Supreme Court today. This has been the modus operandi since the beginning for the Jagan regime to defy the SEC’s orders in the name of cases in the Supreme Court. Now, the ball is in the court of the SEC whether to take harsh action against the District Collectors or not.