The Election Commission has filed a petition with the Supreme Court in response to the Madras High Court’s “blatantly disparaging remarks” about polling during the deadly second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Election Commission “shall certainly be arrested for murder” for not stopping political rallies for the Tamil Nadu election during a Covid surge, the high court said on April 26. “At no expense will counting become a stimulus for a further boom,” the high court later said in its order. Tomorrow, the votes for four states and one Union Territory will be tallied.
The Election Commission told the Supreme Court today that the Madras High Court made overtly disparaging and insulting remarks. The Election Commission said in its petition that the Madras High Court “after being an autonomous constitutional authority made serious charges of murder on another independent constitutional authority without any justification, which has eventually harmed both entities.”
On Monday, the Election Commission’s petition will be heard by a bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and MR Shah. On Friday, when hearing Covid-related questions, Justice Chandrachud said that courts should stop making needless remarks in sensitive cases.
The Madras High Court ruled on April 26 that vote-counting can only take place if sanitization, grooming, gloves, and distancing rules are followed. It instructed the Election Commission to devise a strategy for enforcing Covid laws the next day, otherwise, the counting could be halted.
The high court’s decision was based on a petition filed by Tamil Nadu Transport Minister MR Vijayabaskar, who sought Covid’s cooperation during the election count in Karur, where he stood for office.
High courts in other states, such as Delhi, are hearing Covid-related cases, especially the oxygen shortage. The Delhi High Court ordered the center that hospitals in the national capital must be granted their maximum quota of medical oxygen today “by all way,” as it heard petitions on how the health system is coping with the pandemic.
