Andhra Pradesh HC gives nod for counting of Parishad poll votes

A Bench comprising Chief Justice Arup Kumar Goswami and Justice J. Umadevi gave the green signal for the counting of votes. The court also upheld the ZPTC and MPTC elections which pulled down the curtains on the prolonged legal battle of more than five months and the entire poll procedure which was stretched for more than one-and-a-half years.

The TDP and BJP had approached the High Court objecting to holding the MPTC and ZPTC elections without issuing a month's notice before the poll date. The two parties had demanded the elections be cancelled and a new one be conducted.

The single Bench judge of the High Court had suspended the counting of votes on 21 May 2021. The first poll notification was issued in March 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic began. The court asked the state Election Commission to hold fresh polls. Opposition Telugu Desam Party had boycotted the election while the ruling YSRCP had won 2,271 MPTC and 126 ZPTC seats unopposed.

The High Court noticed that the election process had been vitiated since guidelines issued by the Supreme Court were violated. The court had canceled the elections stating that the process was contrary to the Supreme Court guidelines regarding issuing notification four weeks before the polls and had ordered holding the elections again as per the guidelines.

Senior TDP leader Varla Ramaiah had filed a petition stating that the state Election Commission had issued a notification on 1 April for ZPTC and MPTC elections, contrary to the Supreme Court's order to impose the code four weeks before the polling date.

The single judge Bench of the HC that heard the case had issued an interim order on 6 April suspending the election process. Later, the Division Bench, after hearing the SEC, had allowed the polls to be held on 8 April as per the schedule. However, it had halted the counting of votes.