Conduct Of Election Amidst Pandemic To Violate Art. 19(1)(a) Right To Vote, To Know About Candidates: Plea In Patna HC Seeks Deferment Of Assembly Polls [Read Petition]

After the Supreme Court, the Patna High Court has also been moved in a PIL to defer the upcoming assembly election to be held in the State of Bihar as the term of the Bihar Legislative Assembly ends in the month of November, 2020.

Advocate Jai Vardhan Narayan, petitioner-in-person, has submitted that merely going through the Election Commission of India's guidelines for conduct of elections during the COVID 19 pandemic makes it clear as crystal that they will never achieve the commands of the Apex Court as also the protection of fundamental rights of the citizens of the State of Bihar as guaranteed in the Constitution.

"It is apparent that the Constitution of India vide Article 19(1)(a) which deals with freedom of speech and expression and its scope of casting of votes by voters which is being fully covered by the aforesaid Article and hence voter's right to know the antecedents including criminal past of a candidate to membership of parliament or legislative assembly has been held as a fundamental right. This command of the Constitution has been dealt in detail by the Apex Court in Union of India (UOI) V. Association for Democratic Reforms and Anr. WITH People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) and Anr. V. Union of India (UOI) and Anr. Reported in AIR 2002 SC 2112, (2002) 5 SCC 294 and it is confirmed that right to vote and getting information of a particular candidate in an election is a fundamental right", it is urged.

It is pointed out that in the ensuing assembly election of the State of Bihar which is likely to be held in the month of September/October, it would not be possible at all to communicate the bio data of the candidates to the voters in entirety to all the constituencies of the State of Bihar on account of the pandemic COVID 19.

Also, the plea advances, Section 126 of the Representation of the People's Act, 1950 which provides for Prohibition of public meetings during period of forty-eight hours ending with hour fixed for conclusion of poll shall also be affected since the aforesaid time is provided for making up minds of the people so as to select a candidate of choice for voting. But here on account of the pandemic COVID 19, it would not be possible to get the information available to the voters in regard to candidate's bio-data etc.

"As per the current data available approximately 117671 cases have been detected so far in the State of Bihar. The statistics are available on the official twitter account of the health department...anyone can catch COVID-19 and become seriously ill...as per the order of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India vide Notification No. 40-3/2020-DM I(A) dated 29.07.2020, it has been directed by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India that large public gathering shall continue to remain prohibited", it is urged.

Besides, it is argued that the state of Bihar is combating floods and according to the available report dated 21.08.2020 uploaded on the website of the Disaster Management, Government of Bihar, all together 16 Districts have been badly affected with the flood and approximately 8292464 people have been affected.

The causality in regard to total deaths is reported to be approximately 27. The deluge has swamped 1,232 panchayat areas in 125 blocks of the 16 districts. According to the news reports, Rivers such as Baghmati, Burhi Gandak, Kamlabalan, Adhwara, Khiroi and Ghaghra are flowing above the danger levels. Ganga is also flowing 17 cm above the danger mark at Kahalgaon in Bhagalpur. The river's water level rose by 1-4 cm at various places in the State.

The petitioner had stressed that the situation is not at all favourable for conducting elections and as such the ensuing election will be conducted against the provisions of the statutory norms as well as the rights conferred upon citizens by the Constitution.

"The citizens fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression under Article19(1)(A) of the Constitution of India includes the right to know the bio data of the contesting candidates which is also the command of the Apex Court as a fundamental right of the voters will never be complied with in the prevailing situation", it is iterated.

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