In a shocking statement, the Madras High Court (HC) held the Election Commission of India (ECI) responsible for several deaths due to the Novel Coronavirus or COVID-19 cases. In a court hearing, the Madras HC said the ECI is responsible for the second wave of COVID-19 and Election Commission officials could be booked under murder charges of the Indian Penal Code (IPC.)
On the 26th of April, the court was hearing a petition filed on facilities to ensure that COVID-19 safety norms are followed during Tamil Nadu elections. While reviewing the petition, the Madras HC noted due to the enormous number of public meetings, political rallies and campaigns for elections, the number of COVID-19 cases increased.
In addition, people at these rallies were not even following COVID-19 norms like social distancing, wearing face masks and sanitization.
The Chief Justice (CJ) of Madras HC, Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy reviewed the petition.
The CJ asked the ECI panel, “Were you on another planet when the election rallies were held?” The bench said that despite the court orders, the Election Commission had failed to enforce COVID-19 appropriate protocols during the poll rallies.
In addition, the court also asked the ECI to submit a detailed report and a blueprint of how they would ensure COVID-19 protocol on the 2nd of May. The 2nd of May is the result day for the recently conducted elections. The Madras High Court directed the Election Commission to submit the report before the 30th of April.
If the EC council failed to produce the report, the Madras HC is authorised to cancel the counting of votes in the State.
Emphasizing on the situation, the court said, “The situation now is of survival and protection, everything else comes next.”
Tamil Nadu conducted it’s Assembly elections on the 6th of April for 234 Assembly seats.
