On the last day of campaigning for seven urban local body polls in Telangana, the BJP has censored for its mega campaign ahead of assembly elections in five states after tweeting photos of hugely crowded rallies on Tuesday. The post was deleted after it was slammed by social media users.
Tuesday’s rallies came a day after the Madras High Court said that the Election Commission was singularly responsible for the second wave of Covid-19 and the officers involved in it should be booked on murder charges. The sharp criticism came after the violation of Covid safety rules during election rallies in five states will turn them into super-spreader events.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Election Commission said it was the state disaster management authorities which were responsible for maintaining Covid safety protocols at public gatherings. The Commission said that the EC cannot take over the task of the State Disaster Management Authority.
On Tuesday, the BJP have returned back with another massive campaign for the local body polls due on April 30 after its much-hyped campaign for the civic body elections in December where several BJP leaders including Amit Shah, JP Nadda, UP CM Yogi Adityanath and others held massive road shows.
The worsening second wave of Covid-19 has not dampened the enthusiasm of political parties and its leaders for huge election rallies, parties including the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi and the Congress too have been campaigning, violating Covid protocol.
The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi was not far behind. Even though Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and his son, KT Rama Rao, tested positive for Covid, other ministers were deputed for campaigning extensively in Khammam and elsewhere.
Incidentally, KCR tested positive days after he attended a massive rally for the Nagarjunasagar assembly by-election. Over 60 political leaders who attended the meeting had tested positive.