HC Gives Green Signal For Parishad Polls In AP

In what can be termed a shot in the arm for the YCP government, the High Court cleared the stay orders issued on the Parishad polls, giving a green signal for the elections to be held as scheduled on Thursday.

On Wednesday, the High Court division bench struck off the stay orders given by a single judge, stating that there was no need for 28-day gap between the notification and the polls.

However, the High Court directed that counting should be stalled till further orders were issued. It suggested that the petitioner should go to a single judge for resolving it further.

The SEC challenged the stay orders of the single judge in the division bench and the court took the petition into consideration. The SEC argued that there was no need of the 4-week gap and that the petitioner, TDP senior leader Varla Ramaiah, was not contesting the elections and hence, he can file only a PIL but not a petition.

If the election code of conduct comes into enforcement, all government programmes will have to be stalled, the SEC pointed out and urged for dismissal of Ramaiah’s petition.

There are reports that the officials are gearing up for the elections already and that the staff had already reached the polling booths, with only a few hours left for the polling.