The Election Commission of India (ECI) has banned all victory processions and events on May 2, which is the day the votes in five states will be counted. Assam, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Kerala have completed polling, while one final phase will be held in West Bengal on Thursday. The counting of votes on Sunday would result in large-scale celebrations, especially in West Bengal, where the BJP is well poised to form the next government. The decision of the EC to ban such victory processions came a day after the Madras High Court, for reasons best known to it, denigrated the institution with rather extravagant use of words.
Issuing an order to the chief electoral officers of all states and union territories, the EC said that it has decided to put out more stringent provisions, to be followed during the process of vote-counting.”No victory procession after the counting on 2.5.2021 shall be permissible. Not more than two persons shall be allowed to accompany the winning candidate or his/her authorized representative receive the certificate of election from the Returning Officer concerned,” the EC’s letter said. According to the Hindustan Times, the Covid-19 related provisions for counting of votes on May 2 are to be in accordance with the broad guidelines dated August 21, 2020, with the addition of the new protocols issued on Tuesday.
On Monday, the Madras High Court had slammed the Election Commission by holding it responsible for the Covid surge being seen across the country. A bench comprising justices Sanjib Banerjee and Senthil Ramamoorthy charged, “You are the only institution responsible for the situation that we are in today. You have been singularly lacking any kind of exercise of authority. You have not taken measures against political parties holding rallies despite every order of this court saying ‘maintain covid protocol, maintain covid protocol, like a broken record…”. Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee even went to the extent of saying that EC officials should probably be “booked on murder charges” for allowing political rallies during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The bench also threatened the EC, by saying that the High Court would stop the counting of votes on 2 May, if it did not put a stringent plan for enforcing Covid-appropriate behaviour and safety in place. In the recent past, the Election Commission has come under severe attack from multiple quarters for discharging its duties. Pandemic or not, democracy must never be allowed to take the backseat in India.
