Plea in HC over irregularities during filing of nominations

Vijayawada: More and more petitions are being filed in the

high court

over alleged irregularities during filing of nominations in the municipal elections. On Thursday, former Tadipatri MLA J C Prabhakar Reddy and four others moved the court seeking directions to the state

election

commission to allow aspirant contestants to file nominations again as they were not allowed to file their papers forcefully.

Arguing on behalf of the petitioners, senior counsel P Veera Reddy said large-scale violence took place in Tadipatri municipality at the time of filing of nominations in March last year. Candidates from the opposition party were not allowed to file their nominations, he said, adding that while the papers of some candidates were snatched and torn, some candidates were abducted despite the presence of police.

He further said that the violence was widely reported in the media and the same was also communicated to the SEC in the form of complaints. “If the SEC is willing to hold free and fair elections, it should give the candidates a chance to file nominations or it should start the election process afresh,” Veera Reddy told the court.

Justice D V S S Somayajulu directed the SEC and Tadipatri municipal commissioner to submit complete details and posted further hearing of the matter to Monday.