The Delhi High Court on Monday asked the Centre and the Election Commission to respond to a petition to debar campaigners and candidates from campaigning in the coming Assembly elections for repeatedly violating the mandatory guidelines issued by the poll panel in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A Bench of Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice Jasmeet Singh asked the Centre and the poll panel to reply to the plea by next date of hearing on April 30.
The Assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala, and Puducherry are slated to be held in phases, between March 27 and April 29.
The Election Commission’s counsel opposed the plea stating that elections are not happening in Delhi, and masks-related guidelines are to be enforced by district level officials of the five States.
Advocate Virag Gupta, representing petitioner Vikram Singh, said that while announcing the elections, the EC in its notification had mandated that “every person shall wear face mask during every election related activity.”
The petition stated that there are instances wherein campaigners and their supporters are not wearing masks while campaigning for the elections, and photos and videos showing the same are replete across electronic and print media and on many occasions shared by the campaigners themselves.
The petition said every person has the fundamental right to life, which is being impacted by political leaders, campaigners and candidates not wearing the masks during the election process.
“The petitioner sought that the EC should debar such campaigners and candidates from campaigning in the election ‘either permanently or for a stipulated, sufficiently long, period’, if they repeatedly violate the mandatory masking guidelines,” the petition said.
It also sought to fine such campaigners and candidates found to be violating the mandatory masking guidelines issued by the Election Commission.
