With the Supreme Court on Wednesday lifting the model code of conduct which has been in vogue for the local body elections in the state, the question remains as to whether the Jagan Mohan Reddy government can go ahead with the distribution of house sites for the landless poor on Ugadi falling on March 25.
The apex court judgement did not specify any particular programme, it ruled that the government could go ahead with its developmental programmes as usual. However, it said the Jagan government cannot take up any programmes that would influence the voters before the elections.
So, the question is whether the land sites distribution comes under the routine developmental programmes of the government or a populist scheme that would influence voters.
In any case, since the model code of conduct has been lifted by the Supreme Court and there is no specific instructions with regard to the house sites distribution, the Jagan government can go ahead with the house sites distribution programme without any hindrance, say analysts.
Since there is no model code of conduct now, the SEC cannot pass any orders to the government to stall the programme.
Interestingly, the SEC cannot also insist on transfer of SPs and Collectors of Chittoor and Guntur and action against other police officials in different places, because there is no model code of conduct.
At the most, he might issue the orders later, once the code of conduct is re-imposed, the analysts said.