In a move that can be seen as vendetta politics, the State government has removed Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar as State Election Commissioner and began the process to appoint a new commissioner. Governor Bishwabhusan Harichandan on Friday approved the Ordinance sent by the YSRCP ruling on Friday amending the Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj Act-1994 to change the tenure, eligibility and method of appointment of the State Election Commissioner (SEC).
SEC term is for five years. However, the state government sent an Ordinance making amendments to AP Panchayat Raj Act-1994 and cut short Mr Ramesh Kumar term to three years. Ramesh Kumar was appointed as the state election commissioner in 2016 by the Telugu Desam Party government when Chandrababu Naidu was the chief minister. He had one more year to retire. However, with the Governor approving the Ordinance sent by the YSRCP ruling, Ramesh Kumar’s term ends. With the Governor approving the Ordinance, the state government it is learnt has officially sent a communication to Ramesh Kumar.
The state government had sent an Ordinance to Bishwan Bhusan Haricchandan to appoint only a person who has held the office of the judge of the High Court as the SEC. According to sources, SEC Ramesh Kumar is mulling legal options. He is likely to move the High Court challenging the government’s decision to remove him from the office.
Ramesh Kumar, who hails from Guntur, assumed charge as State Election Commissioner in 2016. He held the post of Special Chief Secretary to the Governor prior to his retirement.
Reacting to this, senior TDP leader Yanamala Ramakrishnudu said Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy was trying to alter the basic structure of the Constitution, and said that such attempts pose a threat to democracy. He said the move to remove SEC Ramesh Kumar was unconstitutional and appealed to the Governor that the Ordinance should not be accepted. “The autocratic style of functioning is against the spirit of democracy. Whoever is opposing the decisions of the government are being sacked and removed from the office.”
Terming the YSRCP dispensation as an oppressive regime, he said the state government was resorting to witch-hunting. “This is an autocratic regime. Recently, the doctor from Narsipatnam who raised his voice against the shortage of medical supplies was suspended. This is most undemocratic functioning, the governor should take note such autocratic attitude.”
Another TDP leader Devineni Uma said this was nothing but vendetta politics and that the YSRCP ruling was destroying all the constitutional institutions. “Since he has no authority to remove the SEC, he has moved the Ordinance. This is nothing but vendetta politics as Ramesh Kumar had postponed the elections. Where was the urgency to remove Ramesh Kumar, especially when people in the state are suffering due to lockdown and the spread of corona virus. The Nagari municipal commissioner has been removed because he said there was shortage of medical supplies,” Devineni Uma said.
“The government should have honoured Ramesh Kumar for putting off the elections. Ramesh Kumar’s decision has averted a big danger to the state and its people in the light of the corona virus. It is sad that the government was making attempts to remove him. Where is the need for the government to remove Ramesh Kumar right away when the state is facing the corona pandemic. Jagan is trying to cover up for his failure to handle the corona crisis efficiently by removing doctors and municipal commissioners who pointed fingers at the governance. Now, they are making attempts to remove the SEC. This is a tuglaq government,” APCC working president Tulasi Reddy said.
State Election Commissioner N Ramesh Kumar had postponed the elections to local bodies citing the threat of corona virus. 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 TDP, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Jana Sena workers and activists right in the presence of the police.
The YSRCP government ruling challenged the SEC decision in the Supreme Court. As a slap on the face of the state government, the apex court upheld the SEC decision to defer the polls while asking the election commission to partially lift the model code of conduct. Subsquently, Ramesh Kumar shot off a letter to the Union Home Secretary expressing fear that there is a serious threat to his life and that of his family from the ruling dispensation in Andhra Pradesh. The YSRCP leaders, including party president Jagan Mohan Reddy attributed caste motives to Ramesh Kumar for deferring the polls as he belongs to the same social community as Chandrababu Naidu.
In a five page letter addressed to Home Secretary, 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. In view of the constant intimidation and threats, the state election commissioner sought police protection.
