Allahabad High Court seeks EC direction on curbing inflammatory atmosphere
Allahabad High Court Building (Express Archives) Allahabad High Court Building (Express Archives)
The Allahabad High Court has sought reply from the Election Commission (EC) by Thursday on what steps can be taken to curb any “inflammatory atmosphere” during the current electoral process. The court was taking note of allegations that appeals were being made by various political parties on the basis of religion. The High Court’s Lucknow bench of justices Amreshwar Pratap Sahi and Sanjay Harkauli gave the order on a PIL filed by local lawyer Ajmal Khan, seeking directions to curb any such inflammatory atmosphere in the ongoing Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
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“Let the EC dwell on this matter and through its counsel assist this court as to what appropriate steps can be taken in this regard to curb any inflammatory atmosphere during the current electoral process,” the court said on Tuesday in its order.
The petitioner alleged that the depictions and appeals being made by various political parties, their agents and speakers with the consent of their candidates on the basis of religion were causing immense damage and were in violation of provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
It is not in accordance with the philosophy of the Constitution and the mandate of the RP Act as well as the decision of the apex court in an earlier case, it observed. “The utterances that have been brought on record through this petition and the public depiction thereof, if at all are correct, then it is high time that EC should intervene in the mater in order to curtail any such further depiction either by speakers, agents of political parties or candidates and, moreover, being repeated in a recycled manner depicted in the print and other forms of media including social media,” the court observed.