- According to a High Court in India, the
Election Commission of India (ECI) should be booked on murder charges on their handling of the state elections in March and April. - Crowds were seen gathering across
Tamil Nadu ,West Bengal ,Assam and Kerala to attend campaign rallies without proper social distancing or face masks. - The
Madras High Court has told the ECI to come up with a plan to ensure that COVID-19 appropriate behaviour is followed by April 30, or it may issue an order to halt counting on May 2.
The Madras High Court is placing the blame on the Election Commission of India (ECI) for the second wave of rapidly increasing COVID-19 infections in the country.
“Your institution is singularly responsible for the second wave of COVID-19. Election Commission officers should be book on murder charges probably,” said the High Court, according to LiveLaw.
The court came down heavily on the ECI after it did nothing to put a stop to political rallies being held in different states ahead of the assembly elections.
There was a flagrant disregard for COVID-19 appropriate behaviour. People were seen not wearing masks while making their way through huge crowds, where social distancing would not be possible even if one wanted to implement it.
This included not only the public, but the politicians vying for votes as well.
If the ECI does not come up with a proper plan to ensure that COVID-19 guidelines are followed, the High Court has threatened to pull the plug on counting day, May 2.
The Madras High Court bench, comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy, said the blueprints for this plan must be put in place by April 30.
Since early March, India’s political parties have been campaigning for a series of state elections in West Bengal, Assam, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
West Bengal was the first state to show a clear upward trend of new cases in the second half of March. The ECI issued warnings, but by the time they officially banned rallies in the state on April 22 — the increase in cases was already on the uptick.
However, there also has been an increase in cases in states where there were no elections — like Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka. So, correlation may not necessarily imply causation.
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