VIJAYAWADA: The Telugu Desam is likely to boycott mandal and zilla parishad territorial committee (MPTC/ZPTC) elections, which are slated to be conducted next week.
It has been alleging YSRC illegalities in the unanimous MPTC/ZPTC verdicts and demanding fresh notification for the election.
Top leaders of the principal opposition party are to meet and possibly decide on boycotting those elections.
State Election Commissioner Nilam Sawhney issued the notification Thursday night with regard to conduct of MPTC and ZPTC elections on April 8 from 7 am to 5 pm. Re-poll, if necessary, would be held on April 9 from 7 am to 5 pm, counting of votes would be taken up on April 10.
The elections were first scheduled in March last year but the then SEC Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar postponed elections citing the spread of coronavirus. Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy severely objected to the decision of indefinite postponement when there was only one corona case. Later, YSRC alleged that Ramesh Kumar was only safeguarding TD from poll humiliation. TD alleged forceful unanimous elections and demanded fresh notification when the gram panchayat and urban local bodies election process was restored last month.
The TD alleged illegalities when YSRC won 2,217 MPTCs unanimously. TD expected an anti-incumbency wave but to its surprise, YSRC swept both elections. Fearing more illegalities under the new SEC regime, it is planning to boycott the MPTC and ZPTC elections, sources said.
On Thursday, TD politburo member Varla Ramaiah wrote to Sawhney seeking fresh notification for MPTC and ZPTC elections. He stated that YSRC resorted to illegalities through forceful unanimous verdicts in 24 per cent posts in MPTCs and 19 per cent in ZPTCs. He recalled that her predecessor had written a letter to the Union Home Secretary about the sheer violation of norms through forcible unanimous process in MPTC and ZPTC elections. He alleged that the police had also danced to the tunes of the government.
The SEC is convening a meeting of all political parties on Friday to discuss the MPTC and ZPTC elections.
TD AP president K Atchan Naidu said that they would reiterate their demand for fresh notification and explain the reasons. He said that they had not decided on boycotting the MPTC and ZPTC elections and would take a decision after the meeting with the SEC.
