Election Commission responsible for 2nd covid wave; officers should be booked for murder: High Court

Agencies
April 26, 2021

Chennai, Apr 26: On a day that saw the number of fresh COVID-19 cases cross 3.5 lakhs in the country, the Madras High Court came down heavily on the Election Commission holding it responsible for the current mess the country is in.

The High Court on Monday (April 26) said that the EC responsible for the second wave of the COVID pandemic by allowing political rallies in the country and that the officials should be booked for murder.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy called EC "the most irresponsible institution".

"Your institution is singularly responsible for the second wave of COVID-19,” Banerjee told the Election Commission's counsel.

He went on to add, “Your officers should be booked on murder charges probably.”

“Were you on another planet when the election rallies were held?” the chief justice said further.

Banerjee said that Commission had failed to enforce COVID norms regarding wearing of facemasks, use of sanitizers and maintaining social distancing during election campaigns, despite several court orders.

The court warned EC that it would not allow counting of votes of elections scheduled on May 2, unless it places a plan to ensure COVID-19 protocol is followed.

"The situation now is of survival and protection. Everything else comes next,” Banerjee said.

The bench was hearing a public interest petition seeking direction to authorities to ensure fair counting of votes on May 2 in Karur by taking necessary steps to ensure COVID guidelines are followed.

Notably, the EC had denied Trinamool Congress' requests to club poll phases in West Bengal.

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News Network
November 17,2024

hizbullah.jpg

An Israeli airstrike on the office of Syria’s Baath party in Lebanon’s capital Beirut has killed the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah's Media Relations Officer, Mohammad Afif, reports say.

Lebanon's National News Agency (NNA) reported that the Israeli raid struck the Ba'ath party’s building in central Beirut district of Ras Al-Naba'a on Sunday, adding that the strike was an attempt to assassinate the leader of the resistance media front.

According to Baath Secretary-General Ali Hijazi, Afif was having a meeting in the Baath Party headquarters when Israel carried out the attack.

"Afif did not fight with weapons and did not lead a military unit in Hezbollah. Rather, he led a media unit," he said.

Reuters, Sky News, Al Jazeera and a number of Henrew-language media reported that Afif was killed in the Israeli strike.

However, Hezbollah has not yet confirmed Afif’s death or whether he was present at the site or not.

Earlier, the Lebanese Health Ministry said at least one person was killed and three others injured after an Israeli strike targeted a central district in Beirut.

Lebanon's al-Mayadeen television network reported that five people were killed in the attack.

The latest development came after Afif said Hezbollah was behind the Caesarea operation and targeting Netanyahu’s home during a speech at the Ghobeiry area in the southern suburbs of Beirut on October 22.

This was the second assassination attempt on Afif in the last two months, after he survived an attack on the Hezbollah media relations office several weeks ago.

Israel launched a ground assault and massive air campaign against Lebanon in late September after a year of exchanging fire across the Lebanese border in parallel with the Gaza war.

At least 3,287 people have been killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon over the past year, with the vast majority in the past seven weeks. Another 14,222 have been wounded, mostly women and children.

In response to the ongoing aggression, the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah has been staging hundreds of retaliatory strikes against the occupied Palestinian territories and the Israeli forces trying to advance on southern Lebanese areas.

The movement has vowed to sustain its strikes until the regime ends the escalation.

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