ILNS: The Madras High Court has held the Election Commission of India “singularly” responsible for the massive Covid-19 surge across the country.
The bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy asked EC officials, “Were you on another planet when political rallies were being held?”
The Bench was referring to the massive election rallies held across poll-bound states with people without masks becoming super spreaders of COVID-19. The Court asked why were these rallies not stopped by the EC.
The Bench went so far as to say that it will stop the counting on May 2, if strict COVID-19 protocols are not devised by it.
The observations were made on a plea filed by Transport Minister M.R. Vijayabhaskar, who wanted the Court to direct the Commission to strictly adhere to safety measures while ensuring fairness in counting.
The Bench said, “At no cost can the counting result in a catalyst for a further surge, politics or no politics, whether the counting takes place in a staggered manner or is deferred.”
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While the EC said that safety measures have been put in place and promised to file a detailed affidavit on the same, the Bench said, “Election Commission Officers should be booked on murder charges probably.”