Andhra government moves HC against Election Commission orders to stall DBT payments
- In Reports
- 11:03 AM, May 08, 2024
- Myind Staff
The Andhra Pradesh government moved to the state high court on Tuesday, contesting the Election Commission of India's order to postpone the transfer of ₹847.22 crore to farmers for agricultural input subsidy and another ₹610.79 crore to students for post-matric scholarships under the "Jagananna Vidya Deevena" scheme until the state's election process concludes.
Andhra Pradesh is going to simultaneous polls on 175 state assembly seats and 25 Lok Sabha seats in the fourth phase on May 13.
In a lunch motion petition filed before the state high court, the YSR Congress Party government argued that the schemes under which financial assistance was being given were not new but ongoing schemes and hence, crediting of money into the accounts of beneficiaries could not be stopped. The government's counsel stated they would lapse if the funds weren't transferred by the end of May.
The Election Commission's counsel said that the commission hadn't halted the schemes; rather, it had merely requested the government to delay the payments until the completion of the elections next Monday.
“There is no need for release of money so urgently,” the counsel said.
The high court pointed out that there were still 23 days remaining in the month, suggesting that the government could afford to wait. It instructed the government to provide clarification to the Election Commission and scheduled the next hearing for Thursday. The court stated that it would proceed with further hearings based on the Election Commission's response.
On Monday night, the Election Commission issued instructions to the state revenue department, instructing them to postpone the transfer of ₹847.22 crore allocated for input subsidies to farmers whose crops suffered from drought during the Kharif season in 2023.
Similarly, the commission also delayed the disbursement of ₹610.79 crore designated for students from Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), and Other Backward Class (OBC) backgrounds for the academic year 2023-24, under the Post Matric Scholarships (Vidya Deevena) scheme, until the state's election process is concluded.
On Tuesday, YSRCP president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy strongly objected to the Election Commission's decision to delay the transfer of funds to farmers' and students' accounts. He accused the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) of being behind the Election Commission's move to halt the ongoing welfare distribution in the state.
“They are putting pressure on the EC to stall DBT financial assistance on ongoing welfare schemes of the state like pensions, and input subsidy among others,” he said.
Senior TDP leader and former Rajya Sabha member Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar said Jagan had approved the release of financial assistance to farmers and students in March itself. “But the money was not credited then. Now, just before the elections, he ordered the crediting of money into the accounts of beneficiaries. He wanted to buy the votes with government money,” Kumar alleged.
Meanwhile, chief electoral officer MK Meena clarified to the reporters that the EC had not ordered stopping of any of the government schemes. “It only wanted the government to wait till the completion of elections on May 13,” he said.
Image source: PTI
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