The Election Commission on Wednesday directed the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party to publicly announce that Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has not been made the permanent president of the outfit.

The order came after news reports claimed that the YSRCP was likely to make Reddy its permanent president.

In its order, the poll panel said that if the YSRCP does not categorically contradict the reports, it could create confusion in other political formations that Election Commission accepts such a move. The poll panel said that it feared that such a move could “assume contagious proportions”.

“The commission categorically rejects, any attempt or even a hint of any organisational post being of permanent nature being inherently anti democracy,” the order said. “Any action which denies the periodicity of elections, is in complete violation of the extant instructions of the Commission.”

The poll panel said that it had written to the YSRCP in July when it received allegations about the permanent presidency. After several other intimations, the party replied in August stating that Reddy has appointed to the post but did not clarify about the permanent presidency, it said.

After the poll panel wrote to the YSRCP again, the party said that the allegations were reported in the media and an inquiry is being conducted in this regard. The Election Commission has also directed the outfit to finish the inquiry at the earliest.

The poll panel guidelines state that political parties have to conduct elections within a specific time frame to choose a president, according to NDTV. The parties can be derecognised if they do not hold regular elections.

Following the Election Commission order, YSRCP told NDTV that it would inform the poll panel that Reddy had been elected president for five years – from July 2022 to July 2027. It added that there had been no announcement in the plenary session to amend the party’s constitution to make him the permanent president.