Andhra Pradesh SEC freezes 100 ULB polls: The Andhra Pradesh State Election Commission (APSEC) on Wednesday suspended the ongoing election process in all 100 urban local bodies of the state. The move follows the Supreme Court’s directive to consider extending the nomination deadline for candidates who could not file their nomination papers due to law and order issues.
In an official order issued late on Wednesday evening, the commission said that the decision was taken keeping in mind the Supreme Court’s October 21 directions. The Election Commission will issue another order on Thursday after receiving reports from district collectors, district election officials and police officials. These elections include 13 Municipal Corporations and 87 Municipalities and Nagar Panchayats.
The Supreme Court has directed APSEC to decide by October 22 whether to extend the deadline for nominations or not. Justice Joymalya Bagchi and V. The Mohana bench directed the commission to postpone the release of the final list of candidates till October 26. Also, the commission has been asked to scrutinize the representations, supporting documents and electronic evidence submitted by the petitioners and candidates.
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As per the order of the commission, the nomination process was conducted from October 16 to 18, while the scrutiny of nomination papers was held on October 19. The final list of candidates was originally scheduled to be released on October 21. The commission said it would take a decision on Thursday after receiving reports from the district administration and the police on the alleged hold-up of candidates during the nomination process.
The Supreme Court directed the Director General of Police (DGP) to ensure that candidates get police protection and CCTV coverage at nomination centres.
