Justice Kanagaraj appointed as new State Election Commissioner of AP

Amaravathi(Andhra Pradesh),11 April(HS):Justice V Kanagaraj, a former judge of the Madras High Court has been appointed State Election Commissioner of Andhra Pradesh.

The orders to this effect were issued on Saturday morning and he assumed charge immediately.

Amid High drama yesterday night with the notification issued by ruling YSR Congress bent upon sacking the SEC Ramesh Kumar the stage was set for new appoinment.

Yesterday the Governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan approved the Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj (Second Amendment) Ordinance to change the tenure, eligibility, and method of appointment of the State Election Commissioner (SEC) and later, the State Government issued a notification to the effect that with the ordinance coming into the force, incumbent SEC N Ramesh Kumar ceases to hold office.

The Ordinance and the notification paved the way for the appointment of the new SEC

Many legal experts feel this appointment may not escape legal scrutiny.What prompted the state government to speed up the replacement was the fact that the outgoing SEC Ramesh Kumar had in fact ordered an enquiry into state health department volunteers going house to house and distributing the token amount of Rs 1000/-promised as relief on account of Covid -19.

The opposition TDP has dubbed this exercise as bribing voters in leiu to seeking votes for Panchayat/Municipal/ZPTC polls now stand postponed.

It may be recalled that the outgoing SEC has stalled that the local body elections on account of Covid and this led to ruling YSR Congress and its Chief Minister accusing of dancing to the tunes of Opposition TDP.

Justice Kanagaraj took over as state CEC in the state secretariat in Amaravathi today morning and met the state governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan at Rajbhavan today.

Justice Kanagaraj enrolled as a Lawyer in the Madras Bar Council in January 1973 and started practicing Law as a member of the Salem Bar Association. He had a highly successful career on all branches of Law for 24 years and on February 24, 1997, was elevated as a Judge of the Madras High Court. Hee delivered a record number of about 69,000, many being landmark judgments.

He was nominated to the Syndicate and Senate of Dr Ambedkar Law University, Tamil Nadu during 2002-2005. After his retirement, he continued his legal practice as Senior Advocate in the Supreme Court. His tenure will last for three years.