Andhra Pradesh moves HC against local polls

Amaravati: The Y S Jaganmohan Reddy government on Saturday challenged the State Election Commissions decision to conduct elections to the gram panchayats and hurriedly moved a ‘House Motion petition’ in the High Court seeking that the poll process be stalled. The government did not get any relief as the High Court has not immediately taken up the petition and may consider it on Monday, authoritative sources said. State Election Commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar announced the schedule late on Friday night, overruling the state governments objections against the conduct of the elections, saying the polls to gram panchayats would be held in four phases in February. The ruling YSR Congress alleged that the SEC is “dancing to the tunes of Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu.” Report Page 7