PIL Before Delhi HC Seeking Postponement Of Elections Due To Pandemic Dismissed As Withdrawn

The Delhi High Court has dismissed as withdrawn a PIL field seeking to defer the upcoming elections in five states due to 3rd wave of the pandemic.

A Bench of Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Jasmeet Singh while dismissing the petition observed that "Cases are on a decline, hospitalizations are low and only people without vaccination are experiencing severe disease".

The Court further reprimanded the Counsel for the petitioner and observed "Are you living on Mars or something? You cannot hold up the lives of the people".

The PIL was filed by one Jagdish Sharma, who claims to be a social worker, serving the society for the past 20 years.

The plea prayed for issuance of directions to the respondents for the arrangement of essential supplies during the third wave of the pandemic owing to the fact that last year in the month of March- April the country faced a situation that was never seen by anyone. As per the Petitioner, the situation was such that the cemetery was full of dead bodies, many had to wait for 3-4 days to perform the last rituals for their loved ones.

The plea also prayed for the issuance of directions to the Election commission to postpone the election for a few months/weeks in all five states.

One of the grounds raised in the petition was that due to upcoming elections in the states, ministers of the government are busy and are less concerned about the upcoming health emergency.

Case Title: Jagdish Sharma V Union of India & Ors.