Why isn’t EC cracking whip on Bihar Covid norms violators?
Surging crowds at election rallies are a good indication of a vibrant democracy. But these are not normal times. The deadly coronavirus has already killed over 1.2 lakh people in India and its next wave is expected in winter. Amid all the scare, the Election Commission of India began its first big experiment in learning to live with the pandemic by announcing the Bihar Assembly elections schedule and issuing a series of guidelines on safe mobilisation of people.
But going by the turnout at rallies addressed by star speakers across the board, the EC appears to have lost the plot. Thousands of people standing cheek-by-jowl, most of them without masks, is what you get to see at such rallies. Didn’t the prime minister say the other day that the lockdown is over but Covid is not, so better be safe? Why is it not finding any resonance in Bihar’s poll rallies? The EC, too, in all fairness had written to parties in the state last week, sharing its alarm at their supporters flouting physical distancing norms and leaders failing to set an example by addressing gatherings without masks. Yet, there has been no visible impact on the ground.
So far, Bihar appears to have done creditably in managing Covid, as it stands 17th in the pecking order of active cases in India, negating fears that the lakhs of migrants returning home during the lockdown exodus could add to the rural case load. So why is the state now failing its people by ignoring the pandemic safety protocol? And why is it that the big pontificating netas just don’t seem to mind? Such recklessness is surely an invite for hastening the next infection wave.
As it is, Kerala, West Bengal and Delhi are proceeding towards a third peak, NITI Aayog member V K Paul revealed recently. As for the EC, it has its task cut out. If infection cases spiral after the election dust settles, fingers would definitely be pointed at the poll body for thrusting elections on an unwilling opposition. Since its bark hasn’t worked, it’s perhaps time to bite. For its own sake, to maintain institutional credibility, it ought to take visible deterrent punitive action against all violators. Bihar lives matter.