ECI failed in making political parties adhere to COVID-19 protocol during campaign: HC

‘Repeated orders passed by the court, like a broken record, went unheeded’

The Madras High Court on Monday expressed its displeasure with the Election Commission of India (ECI) for having failed to ensure that political parties adhered to the COVID-19 protocol during the recent Assembly election campaign in Tamil Nadu. It warned the Commission that the counting of votes, scheduled for May 2, would be postponed if appropriate safety measures are not put in place and the court informed of the same by April 30. The First Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy said that though polling was, by and large, peaceful in Tamil Nadu, the ECI couldn’t ensure that political parties adhered to the COVID-19 protocol during the campaign, despite repeated observations made by the court, “like a broken record”, in almost every order passed on an election-related case, stressing the need to follow the norms. “The significance of adhering to such protocol may have been lost on the Election Commission, going by its silence as campaigning and rallies were conducted without distancing norms being maintained, and in wanton disregard for other requirements of the protocol,” the judges observed.