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The Calcutta High Court bench of Justice Harish Tandon and Justice Soumen Sen has sought reply from the Election Commission of India (ECI) on the plea filed seeking compensation for children orphaned during Covid19. The plea has been filed by the West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights (WBCPCR).

WBCPCR filed a petition in Calcutta High Court seeking directions to the Election Commission of India to pay compensation to children who have been orphaned in the second wave of COVID-19 and to the families that have lost their children to the virus after the announcement of the Assembly polls. The Commission holds the Election Commission of India responsible for holding elections in West Bengal and allowing rallies throughout the state with no COVID-19 guidelines. In the petition, the child rights commission accused the EC of “wilfully and deliberately putting the lives of about 10 crore in the state into the depth of despair” amid the pandemic by conducting an eight-phase election.

According to the data, a week before the first phase of polls, less than 4,000 active COVID-19 cases were reported in West Bengal and by the time the seventh phase of election was held on April 26, 2021, the state reported more than one lakh active cases. While the new cases per day increased from under 400 to around 16,000.

Calcutta High Court bench of Harish Tandon and Justice Soumen Sen observed that there is no need for interim order and directed the Election Comission to file its reply. The Court noted:

“The reliefs claimed in the instant writ petition pertains to a direction upon the Election Commission to provide compensation to each of the children, who lost lives during Covid-19 pandemic because of the announcement of general election on 26th February, 2021. The other consequential reliefs are also claimed therein. We do not find any scope for an interim order. We want to hear out the matter on the ground of reliefs claimed in the instant writ petition.”

The reply is to be filed on or before 13th January, 2022. The matter is listed on 14th January, 2022.

Cause Title: The Chairperson, West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights vs Election Commission of India & Others