The High Court of Andhra Pradesh has ordered former Chief Secretary Nilam Sawhney and Panchayat Raj Principal Secretary Gopalakrishna Dwivedi to appear before the court on January 22. The court issued these orders in a contempt of court proceeding initiated by State Election Commissioner N Ramesh Kumar.
Ramesh Kumar filed the contempt case after the former CS and the PS did not carry out his orders regarding the election process. The SEC lawyer told the court that there were prior court orders but the senior officials did not cooperate with the Election Commission. They did not carry out the orders given by the SEC in order to ensure a free and fair election.
As of now, Nilam Sawhney has retired and rejoined the Government as its advisor. Whereas, Gopalakrishna Dwivedi has been continuing in his key role. It was during the Sawney time that an all out ego battle started between the Chief Minister Jaganmohan Reddy and SEC Ramesh Kumar.
The CM made caste based comments against Ramesh for just postponing the local body elections in the midst of Coronavirus epidemic last year. At that time, Jagan was in a hurry to win 90 percent local bodies and then shift the Capital City.
After the postponement, the elections were still being continued and the Capital city issue also got stuck in the courts.
