Andhra poll panel stops the process in all 100 urban local bodies after Supreme Court order

Andhra Pradesh’s State Election Commission has stopped the election process in all 100 of the state’s urban local bodies, a day after the Supreme Court told it to hold back the final list of candidates and reconsider whether opposition candidates had been kept from filing their papers.

State Election Commissioner Anil Chandra Punetha’s order, issued late on Wednesday, says “the further election process in respect of all 100 Urban Local Bodies in the state shall be stopped forthwith.” The polls cover 13 municipal corporations and 87 municipalities and nagar panchayats. The commission said it would act in line with the court’s directions and issue further orders after reports from district collectors and superintendents of police.

What the court asked for

The halt follows a special leave petition by the YSR Congress Party against the Andhra Pradesh High Court’s refusal to extend the nomination deadline, which closed on 19 October. The party said its candidates were attacked, threatened and stopped from reaching nomination centres in Punganur, Rayachoti, Kadapa and Tirupati, and asked for police protection so they could file “without fear.”

The Supreme Court directed the commission not to publish the final candidate list before 25 October, to hear representations from the YSRCP and its candidates, and to examine evidence, including electronic evidence, on whether people were unable to file because of the law and order situation. Punetha said the commission would decide on Thursday whether to extend the deadline. Any extension must run for at least 48 hours from the time the decision is published, through an amendment to the election notification.

The notification was issued on 14 October, nominations ran from 16 to 18 October and scrutiny was held on 19 October.

The ruling alliance responds

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan and BJP state president PVN Madhav said the alliance would abide by the commission’s decision. They accused the YSRCP of filing 59 petitions in court to obstruct the polls and of inciting violence. Naidu and Pawan Kalyan met at the Chief Minister’s residence later in the day to discuss the court’s orders. TDP leader Bonda Uma Maheswara Rao said the court had not ordered the elections stopped, only asked the commission to examine the petitions.

Tension at rural nomination centres

The halt does not cover the separate polls to mandal and zilla parishads, for which nominations continued on Thursday amid more clashes. At the Anantapur Rural mandal office, where candidates were filing for the Kodimi and Itukalapalli seats, supporters of the YSRCP and the TDP threw stones at each other. Nomination papers were torn up at Narasaraopet, and at Kasapuram unidentified men snatched and tore an MPTC candidate’s papers before police used lathis to separate the two sides. Scuffles were also reported at Guntakal, Puttur and Adoni.

Police placed YSRCP Kadapa MP YS Avinash Reddy and other party leaders under house arrest in Pulivendula after stone-pelting there on Wednesday. Former minister Dadisetti Raja was held at home in Thondangi in Kakinada district, and former Narasaraopet MLA Gopireddy Srinivasa Reddy was also confined to his house after planning to bring supporters by bus to file papers.

The commission’s ruling on extra time for urban nominations is the next step. The final candidate list cannot come out before Sunday.