The Delhi High Court on Monday declined to entertain a petition by Congress leader Jagdish Sharma seeking deferment of the upcoming Assembly elections in five States in view of the third COVID-19 wave.
In his plea, Mr. Sharma claimed that there was a growing health concern, with the emergence of new variants of COVID-19, for the entire country.
Chiding Mr. Sharma for his “frivolous petition”, the Bench of Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Jasmeet Singh said, “Are you living on Mars? Delhi is now dealing with a declining number of cases. You withdraw it or we will dismiss it with cost”.
Following the Bench’s remark, the counsel for Mr. Sharma withdrew the plea.
The petition had stated that with the elections scheduled in the five States — Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Manipur, Uttarakhand and Goa — “almost all Ministers of the government are busy in elections” and not as concerned about the health emergencies in their respective States as they ought to be.
Mr. Sharma had sought directions to be issued to the government and other authorities to “review the preparations and assure the citizens of this country about the available precautionary measures to handle the third wave of COVID- 19”.
‘Promises not fulfilled’
He went on to state, “our health infrastructure is dangerously outstretched, understaffed and under-resourced”. He claimed that the Central government as well as many State governments had made assurances to the people of creating infrastructure to meet challenges posed by pandemics in future. However, he added in his petition, that these promises had not been fulfilled.
“The Chief Minister of Delhi said in May 2021 that his government will install 44 oxygen plants in Delhi in the next one month, but there is no update or improvement on that promise till date,” the petition, filed through advocate Rudra Vikram Singh, had stated.
