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Andhra Pradesh High Court Suspends Schedule For Local Body Elections.
Under the pretext of public health, the single bench of Justice M Ganga Rao of the Andhra Pradesh High Court stayed on the conduction of local body elections within the state by the State Election Commission. On prima facie Consideration of the case, the High Court observed that the directive of conducting the elections was impractical and that the decision was made without the consultation of the State Government, as directed by the Supreme Court. The High court held that the State Election Commission failed to heed due consideration to the inputs and guidelines that were provided by the State Government and further remarked that the inputs provided were not objectively considered under a proper lens, thereby deeming the decree to conduct elections violative of Article 14 and Article 19 of Indian Constitution.
The Court further submitted that the elections would present an impediment to the mammoth vaccination initiative that is being pursued by the Union government and the States to effectively subdue the COVID 19 pandemic, the High Court set the order aside under the pretext of public health and has posted for the matter to be heard again on the 15th of February. The State Government of Andhra Pradesh turned to the High Court after a motion by the Andhra Pradesh Assembly against the order of the State Election Commission declaring the elections. The State Government contended that the order of the commission was irrational and arbitrary dismissal of the direction of the State government, it further maintained that the order focused on material that was extraneous to the record and argued that order by the commission in itself is irrevocably tainted by assumptions, conjectures, and malice in law.
The High Court acknowledged that the State Election Commission had disregarded the inputs provided by the State Government and noted that the current election schedule would cause hindrance to the vaccination initiative that is currently being pursued, the court further held that the decree of the commission was tainted with a sense of arbitrary purpose and violative of articles 14 and 21 of the Indian Constitution, it subsequently set the stayed the conduction of election as proposed by the impugned order of the commission in the interest of public health.
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