'Refrain Media From Citing Oral Observations': EC To Madras HC On Covid 'Murder Charges' Comment

<p>&nbsp;Election Commission of India has requested the Madras HC to restrain media from reporting oral comments made by judges after reports citing that court-held ECI officials responsible for Covid 19 came out and the polling agency witnessed huge criticism by the citizens and media houses.</p> <p>The Election Commission said that it has suffered great damage after media reports cited that the High court has called the EC officials as 'murders' and held them responsible for the Covid 19 surge in the country.</p> <p>In its petition, the Election Commission said it was aggrieved with media reports of the Madras High Court's oral observations that it is "singularly responsible for the situation prevalent today" and that the Election Commission should face murder charges.</p> <p>"These reports have tarnished the image of the Election Commission of India as an independent constitutional agency that is entrusted with the constitutional responsibility of conducting elections," said the poll body, as quoted by Bar and Bench.</p> <p>On Monday, said that the poll body is to be held "singularly responsible" for the Covid-19 second wave, with which the country is currently struggling. The court even went on to say that the 'officers of EC should probably be booked for murder'.</p> <p>The Election Commission argued today: "No one must be permitted to report on the proceedings of this court that are not borne out by the record, especially when the detailed order is made available. There was no occasion for this court to make such observations since the campaigning in Tamil Nadu ended back in April 4."</p> <p>The Polling agency also said that the number of COVID-19 cases was relatively low when legislative assembly elections were announced in Kerala, West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry on February 26, 2021, and no general elections were conducted in states where the highest number of Covid cases are being reported i.e. Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi.</p>

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