The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday has taken judicial notice of the death of 135 persons, who were on election duty during Panchayat elections in the state, due to COVID-19.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister is still in denial about the health emergency in the state that is killing hundreds everyday. Uttar Pradesh is the second worst hit after Maharashtra on official records but critics say officials are under reporting.
A Division Bench comprising of Justices Siddhartha Varma and Ajit Kumar sternly observed that the police or election commission did nothing to save the people on election duty from the deadly coronavirus.
The court has asked the election commission to show cause why isn’t any action taken against such violations as it is a huge failure in following in the COVID-19 guidelines.
The order further stated “the election commission shoud follow all the measures in the coming panchayat elections or else action is liable to be taken against the officials involved in the election.”
The death of 135 teachers who were posted for the election duty was published in a news daily and after verifying the news, the court took judicial notice which said “We, make it clear that we will not tolerate any paperwork or public announcements to show account of the steps taken and its sufficiency as it is now an open secret that government had gone complacent due to weakening of virus impact by the end of 2020 in the state and the government got more involved in other activities including Panchayat elections.”
It is significant to note that the High court had refused to postpone the state panchayat elections though amidst the increasing corona virus situation.
