Bench stays single judge order; allows local body polls

Hyderabad, Jun 22 (UNI) A Division Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court today stayed the Single Judge's order quashing the June 10 poll notification, enabling holding elections to local bodies.

The Division Bench, which yesterday allowed the State Election Commission (EC) to continue the poll process on the deadline for withdrawal for nominations to ZPTCs and MPTCs, today allowed the appeal of the State Government and the EC that any disruption in the poll process would cause a tremendous burden on the state exchequer.

Already Rs 43 crore had been spent for poll arrangements.

Even as the certified copy of the single judge's order was still not made available as suggested yesterday, the Bench comprising Chief Justice G S Singhvi and Mr Justice G V Sitapathy today concurred in a jampacked court with the Advocate General's (AG) argument that the Court should not interfere once the election notification was issued.

AG C V Mohan Reddy cited a series of Superme Court judgements in his contention.

Emphasising the urgency of allowing elections, Mr Reddy told the Bench that any disruption would mean violation of Article 243(e), as the 'life' of the present local bodies expired next month. Already the government had spent a huge amount and had also brought in security forces from other states for smooth conduct of polls.

On a query from the Bench on alleged electoral roll irregularity, he said the EC had taken steps to set them right. 'If there are irregularities, there is always a forum for appeal and protest'.

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