Nainital: The Uttarakhand High Court has asked the Election Commission (IRCI) whether it is possible to organize digital election rallies and online voting in the upcoming state assembly elections. A division bench of Acting Chief Justice of the High Court Sanjay Kumar Mishra and Justice NS Dhanik asked this question to the Election Commission while hearing a PIL on Wednesday.
The petition has requested to postpone the upcoming assembly elections in Uttarakhand in view of the increasing cases of COVID-19 due to the new form of corona virus, Omicron. The High Court sought to know from the Election Commission whether it was possible to conduct election rallies digitally. At the same time, the court also asked whether it would be possible to make available the online method of voting.
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The PIL has claimed that election rallies are being held in Uttarakhand, though an application is pending before the court seeking an alternative to these rallies or banning them if required. The petition has sought postponement of the elections while the High Court has asked the Election Commission to think of alternative methods such as digital rallies. The petitioner’s counsel Shiv Bhatt drew the court’s attention to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s corona virus infection, a day after a rally was organized in Dehradun recently.
Bhatt said that rallies can be dangerous for people not only because they attract large numbers of people, but also because the new form of the corona virus can spread much faster than the earlier forms of the Omicron virus. The court has directed the Election Commission to file its reply on the PIL before January 12, the next date of hearing. (agency)