Hyderabad: A vacation bench comprising Justice R. Subhash Reddy and Justice M. Satyanarayana Murthy of the AP High Court on Thursday refused to entertain two petitions by YSR Congress candidates, challenging the decision of the Election Commission to conduct re-polling in three polling stations of Jamalamadugu Assembly constituency in Kadapa district.
Y.S. Avinash Reddy, the YSR Congress nominee for the Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency, and C. Adinarayana Reddy, the MLA candidate of Jamalamadugu constituency, moved the court against the decision of the Election Commission to hold re-poll in polling station nos. 80, 81 and 82 in the Jamalamadugu constituency.
They contended that the action of the Chief Electoral Officer in recommending re-polling despite the opinion of the district election officer that there was no need of re-polling as there was no interruption of polling in any manner on the polling day, was illegal and arbitrary.
As re-polling was scheduled on May 13, the petitioner moved house motion on May 12. Justice Subhash Reddy, after hearing a brief on the issue, posted the matter to Thursday.
The counsel for the EC submitted that the commission has already conducted the re-polling in three polling stations on May 13.
Reacting to the submission of the petitioners and respondents, Justice Subhash Reddy said that in view of the recent judgments of the Apex Court and Delhi High Court, the court was not inclined to entertain any matter related to the elections through the writ petitions.
While pointing out that the petitioners always have an opportunity through Election Petition to ventilate their grievance, Justice Subhash Reddy said that the bench decided to dismiss the petitions.
At this stage, the counsel for the petitioners urged the court grant liberty to withdraw the petitions and the bench accorded permission for withdrawal of pleas.
