Andhra Pradesh: Lawlessness the new law of the land?

On 1 November, 100 urban local bodies — 13 municipal corporations and 87 municipalities and nagar panchayats — and rural seats in the zilla parishad territorial constituencies (ZPTCs) and mandal parishad territorial constituencies (MPTCs) go to polls. The electoral contest will cover 659 of the 663 ZPTCs and 9,829 of the 9,858 MPTCs. If all goes well, nearly 2.81 crore voters will exercise their democratic right across 28 zilla praja parishads.

The nomination process, however, was marred by prevention and intimidation. The deployment of central forces and installation of CCTV cameras at polling stations, nomination and counting centres turned the state into a bitter political battleground.

Allegations backed by video clips showed vandals snatching nomination papers and assaulting Opposition candidates as men in uniform looked on passively. In one video, a policewoman is seen pushing a former minister, also a woman, to the ground, preventing her from leaving her own home. A scandalised citizen exclaimed: “This isn’t Bihar, we are in Andhra Pradesh!”

SEC Anil Chandra Punetha was questioned for blatantly flouting the directions of the Supreme Court regarding the conduct of municipal elections The Opposition YSR Congress Party claimed Punetha acted like a puppet of the NDA government headed by chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.

YSRCP president and former chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and his party colleagues accused Punetha of trying to undermine the democratic rights of Opposition leaders at the behest of the ruling dispensation. “We have no faith in the SEC. Nor can we trust DGP Harish Kumar Gupta and his team,” said Jagan.

Supported by the Left, the YSRCP demanded that polls be held under the supervision of the apex court, with an appointed amicus curiae. “We don’t believe that free and fair elections are possible in the present environment of coercion, targeted violence and blatant violation of the Supreme Court’s orders,” Jagan said, amid reports of clashes between the workers of the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the YSRCP.

The Opposition also identified 54 police officials for their alleged involvement in electoral irregularities and demanded their removal for colluding with the ruling party in engineering attacks on rival candidates.

On 21 October, the Supreme Court directed the SEC to examine the evidence of candidates being prevented from filing nominations, provide a minimum 48-hour window wherever grievances were substantiated and defer publication of the final list of contesting candidates until 25 October.

On 23 October, YSRCP again moved the apex court alleging that the state government was flouting the court’s directives. Originally scheduled for 28 October, the SEC was forced to postpone the polls to 1 November and reopen nominations for 72 wards in four urban local bodies.

The chief minister accused the Opposition of misleading the courts. “The opposition party is indulging in violence and filing petitions in the courts. By approaching courts with fake litigations, they have become criminal litigants. They gave wrong information to the high court and the Supreme Court,” he claimed.

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Sibling rivalry gets an ‘epic’ twist

The ongoing sibling rivalry between Andhra Pradesh Congress president Y.S. Sharmila and her brother and former chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy just got an ‘epic’ touch, thanks to Chandrababu Naidu invoking the Mahabharata to target his bête noire. Naidu sought to garner political mileage out of a family drama when he likened Jagan to Kansa mama, Lord Krishna’s maternal uncle, the tyrannical king of Mathura.

It all started with wedding plans. Sharmila sent out invitations to her daughter’s wedding in November. Yelahanka Palace, the family property in Bengaluru, was detailed as the venue. This infuriated Jagan, who has a running feud with his sister over the property. He shot off a letter to his sister, refusing to allow the wedding in the palace which he claimed was his ‘sole property’.

‘Hosting an event of this scale would involve several service providers, including catering staff, decorators, event managers, videographers and photographers, besides guests entering and leaving the premises. This will raise security concerns. The circulation of photographs and videos of the property and surrounding areas could also pose serious security risks,’ he wrote.

“This came as a big shock to Sharmila,” said her aide. “Wedding invitations have already gone out to relatives and prominent personalities. Now, she will be compelled to look for an alternative venue.”

Wading into the row, Chandrababu Naidu attacked Jagan for his “meanness and lack of respect for family values”. The chief minister added, “He is treating his own mother and sister unfairly over property disputes. Sharmila also has a share in the family property but he is obstructing [his] niece’s wedding. He is behaving like Kansa.”

Continuing the personal attack, Naidu alleged that Jagan had failed as a chief minister, a party leader, a son, an elder brother and, ultimately, as a citizen. Phew.