YSR Congress petition challenging postal ballot rules: Supreme Court without intervention

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has refused to interfere with a petition filed by the YSR Congress challenging the relaxation of postal ballot rules in Andhra Pradesh. The Chief Electoral Officer of Andhra Pradesh had issued a circular stating that the signature of the attesting officer is sufficient on Form 13A requesting postal ballot and the officer's name or title need not be recorded.

It is estimated that there are five lakh postal votes in Andhra. The complaint of YSR Congress is that there is a possibility of misuse of the directive. Doubts were also expressed about the possibility of sabotaging the postal ballot system with forged signatures. The Andhra Pradesh High Court had dismissed the petition. The Supreme Court clarified yesterday that it was the right position. A bench comprising Justices Arvind Kumar and Sandeep Mehta upheld the High Court's stand that an election petition can be filed after the declaration of results.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court directed YSR Congress MLA Pinnelli Ramakrishna Reddy, who was accused of vandalizing the voting machine, not to enter the counting centre in the area where the incident took place. The action was taken on the plea that the MLA and his team, who reached the booth in Macherla on the polling day, destroyed the voting machine. The Supreme Court did not interfere with YSR Congress candidate Chevireddy Monith Reddy's demand for re-polling in some of the booths in the Chandragiri assembly constituency where incidents of violence occurred.