Keypoints:
- Madras HC says that officials from EC should probably be booked under murder charges for allowing political parties to hold massive rallies without flouting Covid norms.
- Madras High Court said that EC is ‘singularly’ responsible for Covid spread. It called EC as “the most irresponsible institution.”
On Monday, The Madras High Court held the Election Commission responsible for the surge in Covid cases and it’s second wave in the country. It said that EC is “singularly” responsible for the spread, and said that it is “the most irresponsible institution”. Adding to this, Madras HC said that its officials should probably be booked under murder charges.
“You are the only institution that is singularly responsible for the situation today,” the chief justice said during the hearing. “No action against political parties taking rallies despite court orders. Your election commission officials should be put up on murder charges probably.”
The Election Commission allowed political parties to hold rallies and meetings which led to the spread of the virus, said the court. Bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy asked EC officials that, “Were you (living) on another planet?”
Bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy warned ECI saying that the court could even stall the counting of votes on May 2 unless it produced a blueprint on April 30 on Covid-19 protocol at counting centres.
“At no cost can counting result as a catalyst for a further surge, politics or no politics, whether the counting takes place in a staggered manner or is deferred,” the court said.
An official who was familiar with the functioning of the ECI said that the poll watchdog has said to the High Court that as per the Covid rules notified under Disaster Management Act, 2005, the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) has the responsibility to ensure the rules are followed.
“Commission has always emphasised in its 21.8.2020 and all subsequent instructions that the State authorities shall ensure COVID compliance in the matter of public gatherings etc. for campaign purposes. At no occasion, the Commission takes over the task of SDMA for enforcement of COVID-19 instructions,” it told the high court, according to official who did not want to be named.
“The campaign [for Tamil Nadu] ended on 4.4.2021. Fortunately, the second wave of COVID-19 was yet to be visible fully by that time. Polling was conducted following all prescribed COVID appropriate measures on 6.4.2021, which witnessed good electoral participation with full compliance of norms by all concerned,” the commission told the high court, the officials said.
The Election Commission has been criticized for its decision to allow political parties to hold rallies and flout Covid rules, with most political leaders, participants going unmasked.
“When campaigning was on going in Tamil Nadu, we did not have so many cases and polling also ended before cases began to rise,” said Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) spokesperson A Saravanan. “Perhaps ECI could have imposed certain curbs. Except for the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party], all parties in Bengal asked for the last phases to be clubbed. Until Modi cancelled his rallies, ECI didn’t bring in restrictions and by then cases had exponentially risen.”
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee welcomed the Madras high court observations “which clearly said ECI cannot escape its responsibility”.
On Monday, Banerjee alleged at a workers meeting in North Kolkata saying that, “Both Prime Minister Modi and EC are responsible for the (current) situation (of Covid spreading in the state).”
