SC declines plea for postponement of Bihar elections

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a PIL which had sought postponement of assembly elections in Bihar till the grim situation caused by floods and Covid-19 eased to facilitate smooth voting by people.
A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R S Reddy and M R Shah told petitioner Avinsha Thakur's counsel, "Covid-19 is not a valid ground to stop elections in Bihar. The Election Commission is aware of the ground situation and will take care of difficulties posed by these. It is bound to take care."
When the counsel Neeraj Shekhar said Representation of the People Act provided for deferment of elections during extraordinary situations, the bench said, "How can we ask the EC not to hold elections? It is for the EC to take a decision on the matter and not for the court to direct holding or not holding of elections."
The SC acceded to the petitioner's request to withdraw the plea and approach the EC. It dismissed the petition as withdrawn. The EC on August 11 had said assembly polls in Bihar would be held as per schedule.
The petitioner had said, "By deciding to hold elections during a pandemic, the EC has ignored the fact that Bihar has over 9.9 crore population and that it can't adopt measures for aged voters who are more vulnerable to Covid-19. Options like proxy voters under a well-established legal framework, postal voting and mobile ballot boxes cannot be explored and implemented in such a short span of time." He said Covid-19 cases in Bihar were rising and holding elections would increase the rate of infection.