The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the plea filed MLA PC George challenging the decision of the Kerala State Election Commission, Thiruvananthapuram, to conduct elections to Local Bodies in Kerala, for the year 2020, in the midst of Covid-19 pandemic. The petition was filed as a special leave petition after the Kerala High Court dismissed George’s plea.
The three-judge Supreme Court bench of Justices L. Nageswara Rao, Hemant Gupta and Ajay Rastogi asked the petitioner to pursue his remedy for the option of postal ballots to senior citizens before the High Court as the submission was not made earlier before the High Court.
The petitioner had approached the Kerala High Court seeking a direction to the State Election Commission, to take a decision with regard to the deferring of elections to the local bodies, in the light of Covid-19 situation in Kerala and to declaring that the conduct of local body elections in the State of Kerala, in the present health scenario will be violative of citizen’s fundamental right guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.
Appearing for George on Monday, the counsel, Santosh Mathew, said senior citizens should be allowed to vote by postal ballot by the state election commission. The three-judge of Supreme Court said the petitioner was arguing on a totally different point and gave him the liberty to approach the HC and pursue remedies for postal ballots to senior citizens.
George, the MLA from Poonjar in Kottayam district, had approached the High Court saying holding local body elections in Kerala, in the present health scenario, will be violative of the citizen’s fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.
The bench comprising Chief Justice S Manikumar however dismissing the petition observed that “merely because there is a rise in the number of cases reported for Covid-19 between 01.10.2020 to 31.10.2020, it cannot be contended that the State Election Commission has not considered the gravity and impact of Covid-19 cases. True that there is no indication by any of the authorities, including the Central Government or the authorities under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, as to when there would be an end to Covid-19 pandemic.