The cat-and-mouse game between Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy and State Election Commissioner N Ramesh Kumar has reached a climax. As on today, things turned out in favour of the SEC. The Supreme Court refused to consider the AP petition for staying the panchayat polls since the petition was faulty and incomplete. A fresh petition could come up for hearing only on Monday.

Meanwhile, the SEC is all set to release his notification for the polls on Saturday itself. Once the notification is issued, it would be difficult for the Jagan Reddy regime to effectively argue before the Supreme Court for the postponement of the elections. Time has run out for the AP Government.

Despite this, the AP lawyers were trying to move a house petition before the Apex Court today or tomorrow. It is clear the Jagan regime is trying hard to prevent the SEC from issuing the election notification.

Meanwhile, senior IAS officers Gopalakrishna Dwivedi and Girija Shankar met with the Chief Minister and discussed the latest situation emerging out of the Supreme Court denial. The two officials are going to meet the SEC in the evening to discuss the conduct of the election. This coordination became necessary as per the order of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh.

Analysts say Nimmagadda has almost gained an upper hand in the whole issue. If he is able to conduct the panchayat polls as scheduled in February, then it will be seen as a moral blow to the CM at personal and political levels.