Madras High Court raps Election Commission of India, refuses to gag media on oral observations

A day after questioning the Centre on its preparations over the last 10-15 months for tackling the second wave of Covid-19, the Madras High Court Friday refused to entertain a petition by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday seeking to restrain media from publishing the court’s oral observations blaming the poll body for the rise in Covid-19 cases.

Earlier on Monday, the first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy came down heavily on the ECI for “not stopping political parties from violating the Covid protocol” in their rallies for Assembly elections.