Supreme Court tells Andhra poll panel to hold final candidate list and weigh more time for nominations

The Supreme Court on Wednesday told Andhra Pradesh’s State Election Commission to hold back the final list of candidates for the urban local body elections and to decide quickly whether nominations should reopen in places where the YSR Congress Party says its candidates were kept away by force.

A vacation bench of Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said the list, which was due on Wednesday, can be published by 25 October. In the meantime the commission must examine complaints of violence or obstruction at nomination centres case by case, and where it finds them genuine, give candidates at least 48 more hours to file from the time its decision is published.

“Free and fair election is a basic structure of the Constitution,” the bench said. “Instilling confidence in the election process is vital for the maintenance of constitutional democracy.”

What the YSRCP told the court

Senior advocate Maninder Singh, for the YSRCP, said nearly two-thirds of the party’s candidates in 19 urban local bodies had been stopped from filing nominations during the three-day window from 16 to 18 October. He pointed to violence in Punganur and Rayachoti on the first day, nomination papers torn up in Kadapa and nine candidates in Tirupati who say they were blocked from reaching returning officers. Vehicles were burnt and an MP’s staff assaulted, he said, warning that ruling party candidates could be elected unopposed across many wards.

“These are video clippings I want to show to Your Lordships,” Singh told the bench. “How do I give evidence for a ward where the form is torn out with my documents?”

The state and the commission push back

Senior advocate K Parameshwar, for the commission, argued that running elections is the commission’s job alone and opposed any court-ordered extension. He noted that the party had not sought more time when the High Court first heard it on 15 October.

Senior advocates Siddharth Luthra and Mukul Rohatgi, for the state government, opposed the plea. Luthra accused the YSRCP of bringing in people from Punjab to stir up violence, while Rohatgi said the party was trying to build a media narrative.

Justice Bagchi was not persuaded that the commission had no room to act. “They made the prayer on the 16th,” he told its counsel, adding that it “could have easily given at least till the 20th”. He noted that the commission’s own rules allowed the date to be stretched by up to six days from the 14 October notification.

The bench said courts usually stand back once an election is under way, but can step in when that is needed to keep the contest free and fair. It also made clear it would not take over the commission’s role.

Police told to protect candidates

The Director General of Police must keep enough officers on duty, put CCTV cameras at nomination centres and election offices and protect anyone filing papers, as the commission directs. Both the commission and the police chief must file compliance reports before the next hearing on 27 October.

The High Court had turned the party away twice: a single judge dismissed its plea on 15 October and a division bench refused even a one-day extension on 18 October.

YSRCP spokesperson Konda Rajiv Gandhi called the order “a victory for democracy and democratic rights of YSR Congress Party candidates”. “Our candidates are being attacked, threatened and stopped from filing nominations,” he said. “Naidu should conduct elections in a free and fair manner.”

Polling is due on 28 October, with counting on 30 October.