Andhra HC scraps ordinance curtailing tenure of Election Commissioner

In a blow to the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government, the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Friday (May 29) struck down an ordinance promulgated on April 10 curtailing the tenure of the State Election Commissioner from five to three years.

The court also quashed a Government Order appointing retired judge V Kanagaraj as the new State Election Commissioner.

It restored retired bureaucrat Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar as the SEC.

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Justice V Kanagaraj, a retired judge of the Madras High Court, had assumed charge as the SEC on April 11, replacing Ramesh Kumar.

The high court delivered the judgment on a batch of writ petitions, including the one by the aggrieved Ramesh Kumar, challenging the Ordinance and the appointment of a new SEC.

The court ruled that the state government did not have the authority to curtail the tenure of the SEC. It also set aside the appointment of the new SEC. The court considered all our arguments in this regard, senior advocate Jandhyala Ravi Shankar, who appeared on behalf of one of the petitioners said.