A division bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Thursday asked the state government to go ahead with panchayat raj (PR) elections while staying the earlier judgement of a single judge, which struck down the election notification in the midst of the poll process. | |
| Continuing the hearing on the appeals filed yesterday by the state government and the state election commission against the Tuesday's judgement, the two-judge bench, led by chief justice G S Singhvi, observed that the poll process could not be interdicted once the poll process was initiated. |
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| The bench also observed that as the term of the existing local bodies expired, the suspension of the election process would go against the spirit of the constitution. |
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| The court also termed the suspension of the process as improper after the state government spent considerable amount and made extensive arrangements for the elections. |
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| "Hence the balance of convenience is in favour of the state election commission and the state government," Justice Sighvi observed while delivering the interim order. |
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| The court posted the case for further hearing to June 27, just a day before the scheduled polling for local bodies. |
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| Earlier Justice Narayana struck down the election notification while hearing a batch of writ petitions, which alleged large scale irregularities in the preparation of voter list for the elections. |
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