State Election Commissioner N Ramesh Kumar, who postponed the election to local bodies, fears that there is a serious threat to his life and his family from the ruling dispensation in Andhra Pradesh.
In a five page letter addressed to Home Secretary, Government of India, Ramesh Kumar said he and his family had been receiving repeated warnings and endless threats from the members of the ruling party ever since the State Election Commission as a constitutional authority took the decision to defer the elections by six weeks.
“There is an unprecedented assault on me personally and the State Election Commission since postponing the elections on 15.03.2020 by no less than the Chief Minister who had attacked me in most vitriolic and offending language casting aspersions and prejudice in his press meet on 15.03.2020,” he wrote in his letter.
Further, he complained to the Home Secretary that it was not just the chief minister alone who was indulging in personal attacks against him. His colleagues, including Andhra Pradesh Speaker Tamineni Sitaram and other Cabinet Ministers were hurling choicest of abuses attributing malafide intentions to the SEC’s decision to put off the elections. This had become almost a daily affair, Ramesh Kumar wrote.
In view of the constant intimidation and threats, the state election commissioner sought police protection. “I have been advised by well-wishers and colleagues who are well versed in security matters that the State mechanism is not equal to the threat perceptions I am facing. There are real apprehensions of physical threats, attacks directed against me and family members. Looking at the intolerant face of the top leadership of the present dispensation and their faction ridden background and known vindictive nature, I have come to the painful conclusion that my safety and my family’s safety is in great peril,” he wrote to the Home Secretary.
Despite the threats to his life and intimidations to his family members, the state election commissioner said he was firm on his ground adhering to the constitutional safeguards and the empowering judgments of both the Supreme Court and High Court to ensure free and fair elections.
In the run up to the elections to local bodies, Ramesh Kumar noted that there were widespread incidents of violence perpetrated by the ruling dispensation against the opposition parties, mainly the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Jana Sena workers and activists right in the presence of the police. “The State had witnessed unprecedented violence and intimidation by the ruling party with the active connivance of police personnel as alleged by all the opposition parties big and small in one voice,” he wrote
There were about 35 incidents of prevention of nominations, 23 incidents of forceful withdrawals and 55 instances of violence targeting the principal opposition parties, mainly the Telugu Desam Party and the BJP-Janasena combine. “The norms of peaceful and orderly conduct of elections were completely vitiated,” he wrote.
The violence reached an unprecedented level with the political parties apprehensive to even campaign while there was fear psychosis among the electorate due to a series of incidents of violence in Andhra Pradesh ahead of civic body elections. In such a scenario, the polling percentages would have definitely hit the abysmal rock bottom. On the other hand, the rich and the elite classes were in no mood to congregate at the polling booths given the corona virus scare, Ramesh Kumar noted in his letter.
The violence was further heighted after Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy issued a diktat to his ministers that they will be stripped of their berths and MLAs will be denied tickets if the YSRCP were to lose the civic body elections. “This had spurred the Ministers, MLAs and party cadres into frenzy and indulge in large scale violence and intimidation indulged with impunity and widely captured both in electronic and print media leaving the citizens aghast,” the election commissioner wrote in his letter.
Ramesh Kumar, in his letter, said ZPTC posts were declared as unanimously won by YSRCP in Kadapa district. “ln Kadapa district, there was a piquant situation with the Zilla Parishad bagged by ruling YSR Congress Party through unanimous elections that witnessed unheard of violence even before a single ballot was cast,” Ramesh Kumar wrote.
Subsequently, the State Election Commission after obtaining reports and complaints from various political parties recommended to the government to act against defaulting officers (vide its Order dated 15.03.2020 ordering …
1. Transfer of Collectors of Guntur and Chittoor Districts and Superintendents of Police of Guntur Rural and Tirupati Urban.
2. Transfer of 2 Dy. SPs (Srikalahasti and Palamneru)
3. Transfer of 3 Circle lnspectors of (Punganur, Rayadurgam and Tadipatri)
4. Suspension of circle inspector of Macherla for gross failure and complicity
In this background, the State Election Commission was actively deliberated on stringent measures to check the unabated violence and to bring about course correction. The declaration by central government that the Corona virus as a notified disaster and the strict health advisories against public gatherings had cast a shadow on the elections, he wrote. The SEC took inputs from the government of India and other top health officials before arriving at the decision to put off the elections. Further, the SEC also took a cue from the State Election Commissioners of Maharashtra, West Bengal and Orissa who postponed elections in their respective states in view of coronavirus scare. “The State Election Commission’s stand is completely vindicated after the Supreme Court upheld our decision,” he wrote.
With the Supreme Court upholding the SEC decision, Ramesh Kumar fears that the YSRCP government will further indulge in vendetta against him and his family. “The road ahead is a testing time beset with challenges and acrimony as the Government of the day lacks in grace to treat Constitutional bodies with due dignity and reverence,” he wrote his letter to Home Secretary.
“Under the circumstances, I have no other recourse other than appealing to the Government of lndia and the Home Ministry to come to my rescue and provide a security cover through appropriate Central Police Force commensurate with the current risk perceptlons.
“I am greatly disturbed and apprehensive for my safety and the security of family members. At this point of time, it also suits me to reside at Hyderabad which is relatively safe but not completely so as the adversaries have a long reach.”
“Throughout the elections, I have stayed ensconced in my office itself which is presently protected with a posse of State police. I dare not venture outside without full protection, Ramesh Kumar wrote. Further he pointed out that once the election process gets over, the state election commissioner fears he and his family are completely vulnerable,” he wrote.
