Ever since the day Madras High Court termed the ElectionCommission as the most irresponsible institution in the country for not beingable to control political parties from violating covid19 protocols duringassembly elections, there has been a debate all over.
A section of society blamed EC for the current covid19crisis in India, while others raised questions over state and centre governmentfor their lackadaisical approach towards the second wave of the pandemic.
Though it’s not the right time for the blame game, however,the fact can’t be ignored that the India has been hit hard, there is acuteshortage of oxygen and ICU beds in many states, and cremations are running outof space.
Withstanding with the sentiments of the people, theAllahabad High Court, in a scathing attack on the Election Commission, thehigher courts and the government, has said that they "failed to fathom thedisastrous consequences" of permitting elections in a few states and thepanchayat election in Uttar Pradesh.
A single-judge bench of Justice Siddharth Verma madethese observations on Monday while granting protection from arrest 'on specialgrounds', till January 2022, to a builder based in Ghaziabad.
The court highlighted how Covid has now reached villagesin Uttar Pradesh, with the recent panchayat election in the state, contributingto the surge.
"The state government is having a tough time incontrolling the spread of novel Coronavirus in urban areas, and it would bevery difficult to conduct the test, detect and treat the village populationfound suffering from the disease. The state lacks preparation and resources forthe same at present," the Allahabad High Court said.
The court also pointed out that the UP panchayat pollscontributed to the Covid surge.
The court further observed that "On account of therecent panchayat elections in the state, a large number of FIRs have beenlodged in the villages. Keeping in view the overall situation of the villages afterthe panchayat elections, a large number of accused persons may be infected andtheir infection may not have been detected."
"Be it elections or Kumbh or any other festivities held in India, the accountability has to be fixed. The centre and state governments must wake up from their deep slumbers and prevent the loss of lives", said a high court lawyer on condition of anonymity while appreciating the observations made by the Allahabad HC.