COVID-19 infections hit new high in West Bengal

West Bengal on Thursday registered a report variety of 11,948 new COVID-19 infections, and 56 deaths, in the previous 24 hours. Kolkata and North 24 Parganas recorded 1,708 and 1,606 new infections, respectively. Kolkata recorded 14 COVID-19 deaths in the previous 24 hours, and North 24 Parganas recorded 13 deaths in the identical time.

Elections to 43 Assembly seats, together with 17 in North 24 Parganas, had been held on Thursday.

As the COVID-19 state of affairs continued to be vital, the Calcutta High Court on Thursday expressed dissatisfaction with the Election Commission of India over enforcement of security norms in the continuing West Bengal Assembly election. A Division Bench presided by T.B.N. Radhakrishnan stated that solely issuing circulars on COVID-19 security was not sufficient.

“We are not satisfied with the materials on record to state that the Election Commission of India and its officers on ground in West Bengal have enforced their circulars,” the Bench stated. The Court sought an affidavit from the ECI on the steps it had taken, on Friday.

The Court was listening to a number of Public Interest Litigation (PIL) circumstances on sustaining COVID-19 security protocol throughout the ongoing elections. Speaking to mediapersons, one of many petitioners’ counsels stated that the Court referred to former Chief Election Commissioner T.N. Seshan and the way strictly he had enforced the orders of the Commission. Chief Electoral Officer Aariz Aftab stated that the Commission had taken word of the observations of the Hon’ble High Court and was “seized and concerned about gravity of the situation”.