[COVID-19] Plea In SC Seeks Direction To Postpone All Elections Till Normalcy Prevails

Accordingly, the petitioner prays, the Chairperson of NEC, constituted by the National Disaster Management Authority under the provisions of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 (DMA), must exercise his powers to issue necessary directives to the Central and all State Election Commissions.

Urging that the Chairperson of NEC is obliged to protect the citizens of India through proactive steps, it is submitted that;

"the Respondent is under the obligation to identify all such activities, which if permitted by way of relaxations until normalcy prevails in the country, would result in higher possibility for spreading the coronavirus by human transmission and take necessary steps to prevent such activities by issuing guidelines to the State Governments, Departments, Constitutional Bodies etc."

Filed by advocate D, Narendra Reddy, the petition establishes that the purpose of the lockdown is to curb the spread of the novel Corona virus by restricting movement of people and maintaining social distancing. Having cited various examples of the response to the lockdown, including the restricted functioning of the judiciary, Reddy refers to media reports to suggest that any relaxation in allowing people to gather in large numbers would be fatal and must be avoided.

Apropos this, it is pointed out that a polling process necessitates the electorate to come out and gather at polling booths, which would defeat the purpose of the lockdown and jeopardize the health and safety of voters. On the other hand, it is highlighted, that in wake of the COVID-19 outbreak there might be an extremely low voter-turnout if polls are conducted as per schedule. This also defeats the intended purpose and end-result of achieving electoral democracy.

Thus, it is urged, that all elections including those concerning local poll bodies must be deferred till normalcy prevails.

"Non-deferment of all types of elections throughout the country by the Respondent in the interest of the lives of the citizens would clearly amount to violation of constitutional rights and safeguards provided to the people under the Constitution of India in view of the observations of the Hon'ble Court that Right to Health is part and parcel and implied to be the fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution of India."

To buttress his point, Reddy emphasises on the Election Commission of India's (ECI) decision to defer the biennial elections for 18 seats in the Council of States (Upper House) from Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya and Rajasthan based on the order of the NEC Chairman. It is further apprised that Legislative Councils elections to 17 seats in Bihar, 9 in Maharashtra and 11 in Uttar Pradesh were also deferred by ECI accordingly.

"Even though the participation in the elections for Rajya Sabha and Legislative Councils is very limited…ECI deferred the said elections observing that maintaining social distancing is not possible even for the limited participants."