EC says HC remarks tarnished its image, seeks to restrain media from reporting oral observations

Days after a stinging rap from the judiciary, the Election Commission on Friday moved the Madras High Court, seeking to restrain the media from reporting oral observations of judges made on its role in conducting elections amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a plea the court refused.

Comments of murder charges against ECI officials and the institution being solely responsible for the surge in COVID-19 cases had caused great damage and it had tarnished the EC’s image, its counsel contended.

The first bench refused to restrain the media, both electronic and print, from publishing the oral observations of the judges relating the role of EC in holding elections to four states and the Union Territory of Puducherry in the country during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.