The Madaras High Court pulled up the Election Commission of India (ECI) for not stopping political parties from conducting rallies even as COVID cases continued to surge and noted that the EC was singularly responsible for the second wave of the pandemic.
The Madras HC also observed that the Election Commission officials should be booked for murder.
“Your institution is singularly responsible for the second wave of Covid-19. Election Commission officers should be booked on murder charges probably,” the HC observed.
The first bench of Chief Justice Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy made these scathing remarks while hearing a petition on facilities to ensure that Covid-19 safety norms are followed during voting in Tamil Nadu’s Karur constituency.
The bench noted that despite court orders, the Election Commission had failed to enforce Covid-appropriate protocols during the poll rallies conducted by several political parties. Face masks or sanitizers weren’t used, nor was social distance maintained during election campaigning, the court observed.
“Public health is of paramount importance and it is distressing that constitutional authorities have to be reminded in such regard. It is only when a citizen survives that he’ll be able to enjoy the rights that a democratic republic guarantees”, Chief Justice told ECI.
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