The Kerala High Court has sought the response of the State government and the Election Commission of India (ECI) on a plea for declaring a lockdown from midnight of May 1 to May 2 midnight, the date of counting, in view of the surge in COVID-19 cases.
The court asked the State government to file a statement in response to the plea.
The petition was filed by Vinod Mathew Wilson of Kollam. According to him, the ECI order banning crowding during the finale of the just concluded Assembly election campaigns could not prevent convergence of political workers and others. They had given scant regard to the COVID-19 protocols, including social distancing. In fact, the police and other authorities concerned who were duty bound to book those violating the protocols remained mute spectators.
The petitioner pointed out that the election campaign and high voltage rallies by national and local parties had triggered another wave of COVID-19 in the State. He feared that all the precautionary measures would be thrown to the winds on the date of counting.
The police would not be able to take any decisive step because they would be accused of committing excess against workers of political parties. The inevitable outcome would be extraordinary surge in COVID-19 cases. In order to prevent such a mishap, the only course open before the State government is to declare a lockdown on the said days.
