A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Thursday upheld the decision of the State Election Commission (SEC) to complete the local body election process before December 31.
The Bench comprising Chief Justice S. Manikumar and Justice Shaji P. Chali upheld the decision while dismissing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by P.C. George, MLA, challenging the SEC decision.
He sought to defer the elections in view of the COVID-19 situation. According to him, the decision taken by the SEC in the present health scenario would be violation of citizen's fundamental right to life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.
Dismissing the plea of the MLA, the judges observed that merely because there was a rise in the number of COVID-19 cases between October 1 and 31 “it cannot be contended that the SEC has not considered the gravity and impact of COVID-19 cases. True that there is no indication by any of the authorities, including the Central government or the authorities under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, as to when there will be an end to COVID-19 pandemic.”
But, that alone cannot be a ground, either to declare that the decision of the SEC to conduct the elections, mandated as per the Constitutional provisions, as invalid or to issue any direction to the second respondent (SEC) to postpone the elections.
Murali Purushothaman, counsel for the SEC, submitted that the commission took the decision to complete the election process before December 31 after taking into consideration all relevant inputs.
The preparations for conducting elections were in full swing though the election process had not commenced and no date fixed for the polls, he submitted.
