Supreme Court Rejects AP Government’s Petition

The supreme court, on Tuesday, rejected the Andhra Pradesh ruling government's petition against the postponing of local body elections because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The bench, constituting Chief Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde as the head, said that since the novel coronavirus is fast spreading, therefore, the cancellation of the elections is a good step forward.

Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Sunday expressed his dissatisfaction over the postpone of local body elections by the election commission and following it, booked a complaint against the state election commissioner.

"The elections are being conducted in accordance with the directions of the High Court. The State Election Commissioner has postponed these without informing the government," the AP government claimed in its petition.

But the bench added that the polls cannot be commenced as per the old schedule and directed the Election Commission to lift the existing election code until further information.

Local body elections which were supposed to be held from 21 March to 29 March have been now shifted to six weeks later as per the election commission of the state.