VIJAYAWADA: The state election commissioner N. Ramesh Kumar ruled out any chance to resume the adjourned elections for MPTC/ZPTC as his tenure will end by March 31.
In an order issued here on Wednesday, he stated that the State Election Commission lost the opportunity to hold MPTC/ZPTC elections as it faced several unexpected legal challenges. Moreover, he said that as it was a prerequisite to follow four weeks of model code of conduct and also to accord top priority for safety of polling staff and taking up Covid-19 vaccination programme, as per observations of Election Commission of India, he ruled out conduct of immediate elections.
The state election commissioner wished that his successor would take up that responsibility in earnest.
However, the SEC said that in cases where there was only a single valid nomination after the withdrawal deadline and Form-10 had already been issued, it was final under existing election law and terminated all further inquiries forthwith. Moreover, the SEC said that the contestants and political parties were open to approach the collector and district election authority and submit in writing about their legitimate grievance so that the authorities would inquire into them.
