Tirupati: Panchayati Raj and Rural Development Minister Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy slammed State Election Commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh for withholding the results of unanimous elections in Chittoor and Guntur districts
He asserted that the no-poll contest is an age-old practice.
Addressing a press conference at Tirupati on Friday, the minister said SEC Ramesh Kumar will face the consequences for being biased towards TDP Chief N Chandrababu in gram panchayat elections.
Questioning the SEC’s rationale in holding back the announcement of the results of the unanimous election, minister Reddy said the SEC should not forget that the unanimous election was the collective will of the villagers.
“Even Presidential, MP, MLA, and MLC elections are held unanimous, and there is no point in halting the results,” he said adding that SEC has been laying restrictions on panchayat elections which do not fall under the election code.
The Minister said that SEC Ramesh Kumar has been working only to promote the interests of Chandrababu Naidu and to save TDP from getting extinct expecting a return favor.
According to the minister, SEC Ramesh had launched the TDP-developed eWatch app as per Chandrababu’s idea.
Reddy welcomed the AP High Court’s decision to stop the usage of the eWatch till February 9.
“More than 90 percent of the YSRCP-backed candidates will win in the election. The returning officers ought to stick to the principles rather than supporting the SEC with evil intentions,” the minister said and added that an incompetent person was appointed as the SEC who does not even know the basic thing on how to get his vote transferred.