As the seven-phase West Bengal election finally comes to an end, the Madras High Court has severely gone into Election Commission as it held the institution “singularly responsible” for the second wave of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic. While the EC is being battered for its conduct, in reality, every party right from the TMC to the BJP and the Left-INC-ISF troika – all violated the Covid norms laid out by the Election Commission.
The Madras High Court in a stern observation stated, “Your institution (Election Commission) is singularly responsible for the second wave of COVID-19. Your officers should be booked on murder charges probably.”
Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee questioned, “Were you on another planet when the election rallies were held?” Furthermore, the High Court threatened to stop counting on May 2 if the Election Commission failed to present a plan to enforce Covid rules on the day of the results – by Friday.
The court said, “Public health is paramount. Distressing that constitutional authorities ought to be reminded. It is only when a citizen survives that he’ll be able to enjoy the rights that a democratic republic guarantees.”
While the EC is getting its share of the blame and rightly so for failure to enforce Covid norms, the political parties are no kids who have to be instructed to behave.
All the parties – TMC, BJP, INC and the Left held huge rallies where a large swathe of the crowd could be seen cheering them on. In fact, at one point in time, it became a popularity contest with leaders of the respective parties taking to social media to boast about the size of the crowd as they attempted to get one up over their rivals. The result is for all to see: West Bengal at 9.5% has the highest Covid case growth rate in India. Worryingly, Kolkata is now reporting the highest test positivity rate at 50%.
Political maturity and heft are not expected from the likes of TMC, INC and the Left, however, people have high hopes from the BJP. It is safe to say that the party has massively let down its supporters and is facing a massive backlash amidst the second wave and rightly so. The BJP perhaps in its zest to win Bengal forgot about the national implications of the virus which was silently but rapidly spreading its wings during the initial phases of the West Bengal Assembly Elections.
That said, it must be noted that, in the run-up to the campaign for the Bihar polls kicking off, the BJP under PM Modi had suggested, along with the JD(U), that election rallies be held in virtual mode only, considering the prevalence of the pandemic. Back then, opposition parties had fought the idea they are today advocating. The opposition to virtual rallies was received from opposition parties in India alone. Liberals and mainstream media, of course, decided not to give BJP any credit for trying to prevent physical rallies for the Bihar polls.
Last year, when the EC had called for consultations over the prospect of an only-digital/virtual campaign for the Bihar polls, opposition parties like the Congress, RJD and Left had outraged like there was no tomorrow. Such parties argued that the concept “is socially and economically discriminatory” and, thus, against the “principle of equality” and “violative of a level-playing field in the democratic exercise” as virtual campaigns could exclude a large section of the rural people and the poor who have no access to digital connectivity.
Now, however, Congress believes that virtual rallies should have been mandated for the West Bengal polls, apart from the elections in four other states which have already culminated. Recently, Gandhi family loyalist and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said, “On the one hand we ask people to follow Covid protocol and on the other hand crowd of lakhs of people continued to gather in election rallies and roadshows. It has been going on since Bihar elections…If politicians had wanted, they could have stopped the crowd by using options like virtual rallies.”
The negligence and short-sightedness of parties like BJP, TMC, INC and the Left have resulted in an unprecedented second wave of the virus in Bengal and come May 2, whichever party comes to power in the state, will have its task cut out against the virus.