Privileges Panel To Summon Nimmagadda

[Anta Assamey]

It is not likely to be a happy retirement for State Election Commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar in Andhra Pradesh.

Nimmagadda is due for retirement on March 31, 2021, after serving for five years.

The AP Assembly Privileges Committee, which met on Wednesday, had directed the Assembly secretary to write to Nimmagadda asking him to be available to appear before the panel.

The committee is looking into the privilege notices given by Ministers Botsa Satyanarayana and Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy against Nimmagadda.

The two minister complained that Nimmagadda’s remarks against them in his letter to the Governor during the panchayat elections amounted to breach of their privileges. 

The privileges committee headed by Kakani Govardhan Reddy examined the two complaints and held three rounds of meetings on the matter.

In the latest meeting, the committee had directed the Assembly secretary to write to Nimmagadda asking him to be available for the hearing of the committee in future. 

It is now to be seen what Nimmagadda would do once he is summoned by the privileges committee. 

Ironically for him, no court would like to interfere with the decisions of the privileges committee and he should appear before it if summoned, even after retirement