New Delhi: After facing flak from the Madras High Court over its alleged failure to ensure appropriate COVID-19 behaviour during election campaigns, the Election Commission on Tuesday said enforcing provisions of law to fight the pandemic is the responsibility of state disaster management bodies.
The Madras High Court on Monday had blamed the Election Commission for the latest Covid surge and said that EC officials ought to be probably booked for murder for allowing huge political rallies during a pandemic.
“Your institution is singularly responsible for the situation today. No action is taken against political parties raking out rallies despite court orders,” Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee said. “Your officials should be booked on murder charges probably.” He was sitting beside Justice Senthikumar Ramamoorthy.
The bench was hearing a petition raising concerns over the lack of a plan to enforce covid protocols during counting on March 2. The petition related to counting in the Karur constituency where about 77 candidates are contesting the elections.
“Were you on another planet when election rallies were held,” the CJI demanded to know from the Election Commission of India counsel. The EC is supposed to enforce these norms.