Decision on MP Civic Polls After Consulting Experts on Pandemic: ECI to HC

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday informed the Madhya Pradesh High Court that a decision about holding civic body elections in the state will be taken after consulting experts on the coronavirus pandemic situation. A division bench of Justices Prakash Shrivastava and Virender Singh was hearing a public interest litigation seeking a direction to hold the civic elections which are due since last year.

ECI counsel Siddharth Seth said the Central poll authority is regularly holding meetings with experts to review the pandemic situation amid the apprehension of a third wave of COVID-19. The decision to hold elections will be taken only after taking appropriate precautionary measures, he told the court.

Due to the pandemic it was not possible to hold elections earlier, and the ECI was also reviewing the status of several petitions related to delimitation of municipal wards and reservations which are pending in courts, advocate Seth said.The Nagrik Upbhokta Margdarshak Manch, the petitioner organization, pointed out in the PIL that the term of existing local elected bodies got over in January 2020.