TDP Polit Bureau member Yanamala Ramakrishnudu has urged Governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan to interfere and ensure peaceful conduct of the local body elections in the State.
In a statement on Sunday, Mr. Ramakrishndudu said it was for the Governor to make sure that the Government employees were allotted for election duty.
Article 243 K(3) provided for allotment of employees. The conduct of election was the sole responsibility of the State Election Commission (SEC) as per Articles 243A and 243 K(1), he said.
Mr. Ramakrishnudu, who is also Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council, said the existing political situation in the State deserved invocation of Article 356.
The Ministers were openly expressing the government’s non-cooperative attitude towards the conduct of the local body elections, he alleged. Such statements from Ministers were unheard of earlier, he added.
The government employees’ association leaders were also threatening to boycott the election process. This kind of a situation was not prevailing in any State in the country, he said.
Referring to Article 243K(3), Mr. Ramakrishnudu said the Governor shall, when so requested by the SEC, make available to it such staff as may be necessary for the discharge of the functions conferred on the SEC.
“As such, if the SEC makes a plea, the Governor has an obligation to allot the government employees to carry out the election duty,” the TDP leader said.
“It seems the government will use COVID-19 as a pretext to postpone the polls till June 2022,” he said.
