EC, govt failed to understand consequences: HC

PRAYAGRAJ: The Election Commission of India (ECI), courts, and the government failed to understand the disastrous consequences of permitting assembly elections and the Uttar Pradesh panchayat polls, the Allahabad high court has said while ordering anticipatory bail in a cheating case citing a spike in Covid cases and overcrowding in jails.

The observation on Tuesday came days after the Madras high court on April 26 blamed the ECI singularly for the second Covid-19 wave in the country that overwhelmed hospitals and triggered a shortage of essential medical supplies. The Madras high court made the oral remarks while hearing a plea for a direction for safety measures and fairness during counting in Tamil Nadu’s Karur. It criticised the ECI for taking no action against political parties for violating Covid protocols during canvassing and said the poll body’s officials should probably be charged with murder.

The Allahabad high court on

Tuesday cited the rural polls in Uttar Pradesh and added the villages remained untouched by the first Covid-19 wave last year but the infection is now spreading there. It added the state government is having a tough time in controlling the Covid-19 spread in urban areas and it would be very difficult to test, detect and treat people, who have contracted the disease in villages.

Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry, Assam, West Bengal, and panchayat polls for about 241,000 seats were held in Uttar Pradesh in March and April. The polling coincided with the worst surge in Covid-19 cases as the second Covid-19 wave hit the country.

The Supreme Court on May 1