Bifurcation of State Election Commission smooth

Things become easier as Commission is not generating any finances on its own

At a time when the bifurcation of Schedule X institutions has become a contentious issue between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, the Secretaries of AP State Election Commission and Telangana State Election Commission worked out the smooth bifurcation of personnel, posts, office space and assets.

The proposals worked out by both the secretaries of APSEC and TSEC were approved by both the Chief Ministers and also the General Administration (State Reorganisation) Department and an order was issued by the Panchayat Raj Department on Wednesday. The SEC falls under the purview of the PR Department.

The bifurcation became easier as the Commission was not generating any finances on its own and its administrative expenditure to run the office was through budget allocation. There were also no funds in the name of SEC in any bank or financial institution.

Originally the SEC was constituted under Articles 243K and 243ZA of the Constitution of India and Section 200 of the AP Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 for the direction and control of preparation of electoral rolls for and conduct of all elections to local bodies in the State.

After the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014 came into force from the Appointed Day – June 2, 2014, the State Election Commission of undivided State continued to exercise jurisdiction over the two States of AP and Telangana till September 26, 2014 following a recommendation by the then Chief Secretary to include the SEC in the Tenth Schedule of the Reorganisation Act.

The Telangana government constituted a State Election Commission for Telangana State and notified it on September 27, 2014 and as a consequence the operation of AP SEC was restricted to the local bodies located in 13 districts of AP from that date.

Subsequently the Secretaries of both the SECs met in January, 2015 and worked out the details of distribution of posts, employees, office space, land, vehicles and other movable assets by mutual agreement as per the GAD (SR) guidelines on the basis of population ratio of 58:42.

Of 74 posts, 43 posts were allotted to APSEC and 31 to TSEC. The regular employees were tentatively allocated to both the State SECs on population ratio. The distribution of employees working on deputation and outsourcing personnel is left to the discretion of SEC concerned.

The TSEC has been functioning from its chosen location at AC Guards while the APSEC will retain the existing rented premises at Buddha Bhavan, Secunderabad. The government land allotted to the APSEC by the undivided State for construction of office building was allocated to Telangana as it was in Telangana geographical area.