‘Ordinance a part of poll reforms’

The State government on Friday submitted an additional counter to the High Court on the petition filed by N. Ramesh Kumar against the promulgation of the ordinance that resulted in overnight termination of his services as the State Election Commissioner (SEC).

In the affidavit, Principal Secretary (Panchayat Raj) Gopal Krishna Dwivedi said that the government brought the ordinance as part of the election reforms, and denied that it was personally targeted against Mr. Ramesh Kumar. He said that the objective of reducing the term of the SEC was to appoint a retired judge of the High Court as SEC as part of the said reforms.

The government also furnished information on the violence that had take place in the run-up to the conduct of the local body elections and the incidents that marred the previous elections.

It may be noted that the court had posted the final hearing in the matter to April 28 and ordered that all the parties, including the new SEC, V. Kanagaraj, complete their pleadings by Monday (April 27).