Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Apr 26: In a step that the Supreme Court was expected to take but miserably failed, the Madras High Court on Monday passed a stinging stricture against the Election Commission of India squarely blaming it for the raging second wave of COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
Calcutta High Court too had censured the ECI last week for its failure to control the election rallies in the pandemic situation.
Holding it singularly responsible for spreading Covid-19, the Madras High Court went to the extent to suggest levying murder charges against it for its “irresponsible” behaviour.
The first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy said, “You (ECI) are the only institution responsible for the situation that we are in today.”
“You have been singularly lacking any kind of exercise of authority. You have not taken measures against political parties holding rallies despite every order of this court saying ‘maintain Covid protocol, maintain Covid protocol’,” the court said.
Though its remarks were confined to the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry where its writ ran, the stand taken by it was equally true for the other poll-bound states as well as the state election commissions functioning under the ECI and merrily holding elections to the panchayats and other local self-government bodies.
The High Court asked if the officials were in some other planet when political parties took out Assembly election rallies without adhering to COVID-19 safety protocols despite several judicial orders.
The bench said public health was of paramount importance and that it was distressing to note that Constitutional authorities had to be reminded of it. Only when a citizen survives, would he/she be able to enjoy the rights that a democratic republic guarantees to him/her, they said.
“This situation now is of survival and protection and everything comes next,” the judges said. They warned the ECI of stalling the counting of votes scheduled for May 2, and ordering postponement of counting to June or July, if a blueprint on the maintenance of COVID-19protocol at the counting centres was not produced before the court by April 30.
The orders were passed on a writ petition filed by Transport Minister M.R. Vijayabhaskar, a contestant from Karur Assembly constituency, seeking a direction to the ECI to put in place stringent measures aimed at ensuring fairness in counting of votes. During the hearing, the Chief Justice expressed displeasure over the ECI having turned a blind eye to safeguarding public health.
Wondering how it could have allowed political parties to hold massive rallies with people not wearing masks and not following physical distancing norms, he said: “You have been the most irresponsible institution in the last few months. You are the only institution singularly responsible for the situation we are facing today.”
While Tamil Nadu and Puducherry went on a single phase poll on April 6 when the Covid situation in the country was still to take the devastating form as it was at present, the ECI Shockingly enough refused to even consider the West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s request for combining the last four or three phases of polling which would have at least spared the frequent movements of the security forces and that much saved the spread of the infections.
The ECI did not even made any attempt to restrict crowd attendance in the elections rallies in West Bengal till all the opposition parties on their own decided to cancel the election rallies. The ECI stepped in only after the BJP, allegedly its “political boss,” decided to keep the election rallies limited to 500 people. The restrictions imposed by it was on the dotted lines of the decision taken by the BJP and that too only after the Calcutta High Court ordered it to take the restrictive measures. However, reports received from the poll-bound areas in West Bengal indicated that the BJP kept flouting the restrictions and still escaped notice of the ECI with impunity.
Reminding the counsel of ECI that it is all about “survival and protection” now and that “everything else comes next”, the court further said that it would issue orders to stop counting if ECI fails to prepare a blueprint before May 2 on how Covid protocols will be maintained during the process. This needs to be done to ensure that “this state does not succumb to your idiosyncrasies any further,” the HC said.
It added, “Politics or no politics, whether the counting takes place in a staggered manner or deferred…At no cost, the counting of votes on May 2 result in being a catalyst to a further surge. Public health is of paramount importance and it is distressing that constitutional authorities have to be reminded in such regard…”
The case will be heard next on April 30.
Expectedly Mamata Banerjee, who had been calling the ECI “BJP Parrot,” welcomed the Madras High Court’s strictures against the election authority and demanded withdrawal of central forces in the next phase of polling to contain Covid spread in the eastern state.
“I welcome the Madras High Court order, which clearly said the EC cannot escape its responsibility. Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and EC are responsible for the (current) situation (of Covid spreading in the state),” Banerjee alleged at a workers’ meeting in North Kolkata where party candidates and workers were present.
Banerjee said, “I welcome the order of the Madras high court. The court has clearly said that the EC can’t shrug off its responsibility for the rise in Covid-19 cases. It has become a parrot and a mynah of the BJP. It is because of them that Covid-19 cases have shot up,” Banerjee.
The TMC government has been at loggerheads with the ECI, repeatedly accusing the poll panel of working at the behest of the BJP-led government at the Centre. Both the BJP and the commission have refuted such charges.
“We repeatedly urged the EC to club the last few phases amid the second [Covid] wave. They didn’t, just to satisfy the BJP. The day a top BJP leader cancelled his meeting, the EC came out speaking like a mynah, telling other parties that campaigning was over,” she added.
Last week, the Calcutta high court had censured the ECI, saying that issuing circulars and holding meetings on Covid guidelines was not enough.
Following the Calcutta HC order, the EC had capped the attendance at public events to 500 people for the last two phases of the West Bengal elections.
Senior officials of the poll panel in Kolkata refused to comment on the chief minister’s remarks.
But the BJP attributed the CM’s outburst to her nervousness. “As the counting day approaches nearer, she is getting more nervous. She knows that after May 2 [vote counting day], her party would be obliterated and hence, she is making such wild allegations. The BJP has abided by whatever orders the EC has given. One should ask her why she didn’t attend any of the Covid-19 meetings called by PM Modi?” said party state vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar.
Meanwhile, Monday marked the end of campaigning for the crucial West Bengal assembly elections of 2021. The last and eighth phase of the polls is scheduled on April 29. The EC has already increased the silence period of campaigning from 48 hours to 72 hours. The last 35 of the 294 assembly seats go into polls in the eighth phase scheduled this Thursday.