Postponing elections not court's job: Uttarakhand High Court refuses to defer State Assembly elections.
Postponing elections is not the job of the Court, the Uttarakhand High Court observed on Thursday while refusing to defer the upcoming assembly elections in the State.
"Postponing elections is not the job of the Court... The Election Commission of India (ECI) has already given certain directions. ECI is such an institution which is unique. EC is doing a commendable job. Nothing is perfect," ACJ Mishra remarked.
The observations came after advocate Shobhit Saharia, appearing for ECI, informed the Court that physical rallies have already been banned till January 15 in poll bound States and that further guidelines will be issued after the ECI takes stock of the situation.
Saharia argued that poll body has already allowed online nomination process and limited the number of people allowed to accompany the candidate for physical nomination to two. He further said that restrictions have also been imposed on the number of star campaigners along with several other steps to control crowding.
Assembly elections in Uttarakhand are scheduled to be held on February 14, 2022 and all the major political parties have already begun their campaign.
The High Court was hearing a bunch of Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petitions concerned with the State's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.