Amid Omicron fears, High Court urges PM & ECI to postpone Assembly polls & ban rallies in UP

Dec. 24: The Allahabad High Court has urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to consider postponing the 2022 Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh by a month or two in the wake of the rising cases of Covid-19 cases caused by the new Omicron variant. Keeping in view the rising Covid-19 variant Omicron scare, the court also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the EC to immediately ban rallies and public meetings of political parties in the state.

As the assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh are slated for early in 2022, all the political parties are mobilising lakhs of people by holding rallies and meetings where it is not possible to follow Covid protocols, including social distancing, in any way, the HC observed. If this is not stopped in time, the consequences could be more dire than the second wave of the pandemic, it warned.

Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav said “Our Constitution has given us the right to life under Article 21,” and directed that a copy of the order be sent to the Registrar General of the Allahabad High Court, ECI and the Central government. The court requested the Election Commission of India to immediately stop such rallies and gatherings and also order political parties to campaign through TV channels and newspapers.