The High Court of Andhra Pradesh has already clearly told the AP Government to give necessary cooperation to the State Election Commission for conducting panchayat polls. The Government argued that Coronavirus vaccination was important but the court asserted that the elections were equally important.
Still, CM Jaganmohan Reddy appears adamant not to cooperate with SEC Ramesh Kumar. The SEC is going ahead with his announcement on poll notification. Now, the Chief Minister is just consulting the legal experts and senior IAS officers how to face the consequences once the SEC issues notification.
No doubt, it would be very difficult to reverse the situation once the poll notification is issued. It is because the State Election Commission is a constitutional institution which is vested with autonomous powers. Already, the High Court order is there instructing the AP Government to work under the SEC to conduct the polls.
Amid these embarrassing developments, the Chief Minister is still not wanting to let the SEC conduct the elections. Once again, the Government began the same old argument for postponing the elections for two months till after the vaccination. This argument was put before the court which had however allowed the SEC to hold the poll.
If the CM will not soften his stand, one more constitutional crisis will be created now.