Andhra SEC misusing power, playing to Chandrababu Naidu's tune: YSRCP

Andhra Pradesh government's advisor and YSRCP general secretary Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy on Wednesday accused State Election Commissioner N Ramesh Kumar of misusing its power ahead of the Gram Panchayat Elections.

Reddy said Kumar was "playing to the tune" of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu.

"The state election commissioner is misusing his powers. He left unbiasedness a long time back. Now he is acting as a worker of the TDP, playing to the tune of Chandrababu Naidu," he said.

This comes a day after the SEC censured two top officials of the Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Department of the state over the failure of performing their duties.

"TDP Chief N Chandrababu Naidu who is famous for mpulative politics and managing the systems, expanded his tentacles to the State Election Commission. The SEC is playing as the puppet of Chandrababu Naidu," Reddy said.

He further alleged that the SEC has been acting highly vindictive against the government for the past two to three days, and it seems that the SEC wants to terrorise the officials.

"For the last two to three days, SEC Ramesh Kumar has been acting highly vindictive against the government. It seems that the SEC wants to terrorise the officials, force them to play to his tunes, and compel them to obey his orders. His letters are the evidence for that. He wrote a letter administering censure on two senior bureaucrats. This proves that he is intimidating government employees," he said.

He added that the SEC alleged that government officials have failed in discharging the duties.

"In the wake of COVID, the officials expressed their inability to conduct polls. When the SEC forced them, the employees used the chance to go to the court. What's wrong with that? But the SEC called it a failure. The SEC has written to Chief Secretary AP CS to enter the so-called failure of senior bureaucrats and their censure in their service records," he said.

"The SEC has crossed all the limits. Our government will protect our officers, particularly those two officials on whom SEC administered censure, from the whims and fancies of the SEC. The SEC has no ambit over the government officials," he added.

He asserted that YSRCP-supported candidates will sweep in gram panchayat elections and the TDP will be wiped out.

( With inputs from ANI )