YSR Congress says it will have origin of SEC letter to MHA probed

The ruling YSR Congress Party has said that it will ask Andhra Pradesh police chief to inquire into the origins of the letter, which was purportedly written by State Election Commissioner seeking central forces for his protection and conduct of elections.

"The Election Commissioner N Ramesh Kumar has neither denied nor confirmed whether or not he wrote the letter which can be seen as a scar on the high office," YSRCP MLAs Ambati Rambabu, K Parthasarathi and Jogi Ramesh told media here on Wednesday.

"The elections have been mired in conspiracies and controversies and the SEC has been showing political colours in its conduct and the tone of the letter is in a damaging manner to the state seems to be written from the opposition point of view," the YSRCP leaders stated.

The letter, purportedly written by the state election commissioner to the Union Home Ministry, had surfaced on Wednesday but its authenticity and origin remained doubtful.

The MLAs further stated that the letter "parroting TDP line gives more credence to the Chandrababu Naidu conspiracy to stall the polls as it is poised for a big defeat".

YSRCP leaders said that the letter did not mention about coronavirus, the reason for postponing the elections but has "political overtones which were expressed by the Opposition and carries more details on the percentage of unanimous elections and TDP propaganda of continuous violence besides expressing concern over opposition parties and blaming ruling party for it".

"We will meet the Director General of Police (DGP) with a representation seeking an inquiry and to trace the origin of the letter," they said.

The Andhra Pradesh State Election Commission (APSEC) earlier deferred by six weeks the local body elections due to coronavirus outbreak. The YSRCP contested the state poll panel's decision in the Supreme Court. The apex court has upheld the election commission's decision of deferring the polls but ordered the model code of conduct to be lifted for now.