Madras HC Ex-Judge Kanagaraj takes charge as SEC of AP

Madras High Court retired Judge V Kanagaraj took charge as State Election Commissioner (SEC) of Andhra Pradesh here on Saturday.

The state government had appointed Justice V Kanagaraj as the new State Election Commissioner (SEC).

Following his appointment, Justice Kanagaraj formally assumed charge as the SEC in the election office, located in the R&B building here.

Earlier, the Andhra Pradesh government had issued an Ordinance facilitating the appointment of  Justice Kanagaraj and removing the incumbent Mr N Ramesh Kumar.  It was later ratified by AP Governor Biswabhushan Harichandan.

After assuming the charge as SEC, Justice Kanagaraj called on the Governor as part of a courtesy visit.

Justice Kanagaraj belongs to Tamil Nadu  and he worked as as a Judge of Madras High Court for about 10 years. After retirement as the Madras High Court judge, he practised as a senior advocate in the Supreme Court.

The government sacked  Mr  Ramesh Kumar, a retired IAS officer, by reducing his tenure to three years from 5 years by issuing an ordinance last evening.

The sudden development has taken place as Mr Ramesh Kumar postponed the local body poll for a period of six weeks which was scheduled to be held in three phases in the last week of March.

The postponement of local body poll by Mr Ramesh Kumar, citing COVID-19 as a reason, did not go down well to the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy headed YSRCP government.