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Court also appreciated BJP's decision to keep its roadshow short on May 7th as NEET Examinations are scheduled on the same day.
The Karnataka High Court on Friday refused to stay the roadshows set to be conducted by the Bharatiya Janata Party in Bengaluru on May 6th and 7th.
The roadshow is part of the last leg of the three-day election campaign of BJP. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be participating in it.
An urgent Social Action Litigation had been presented by Advocate Amruthesh NP before the high court contending that rallies of this kind would disrupt the day-to-day lives of several classes of people.
However, a Bench of Justices Krishna S Dixit and Vijaykumar A Patil held that the argument of the petitioner in person was too farfetched and it ran counter to the election jurisprudence of more than seven decades.
"It needs no research to know that, rallies of the kind were held right from the 1st General Elections to the Parliament in the year 1952 and after," noted the bench in the order.
The bench also highlighted that the political parties recognized by the Election Commission of India, their candidates and others in the electoral fray have a legal right to undertake election campaigns inter alia by organizing political rallies in the public.
"The Political rallies of the kind have some elements of dissemination of knowledge & information to the public at large and they generate lot of political awareness in the voting masses...Through these rallies & road shows, the political parties and the candidates in the electoral fray may tell the people as to their plans & programs, should they emerge victorious. Therefore, an absolute embargo on such events is not in the best interest of democratic process," court stated.
Through the present petition, the petitioner had placed three main prayers— calling for the records in respect of the permissions for such political rallies, traffic regulations etc; direction to the state authorities not to grant any permission for such road shows by any political party in Karnataka, especially in Bengaluru; and direction to the authorities to restrict and control the road shows, Vijayotsava, etc in Karnataka after the counting of the election on May 13.
As an interim prayer, the petitioner had also prayed for the issuance of a direction by the high court to stay the BJP's roadshow measuring more than 36 km in the City Of Bengaluru scheduled this weekend.
However, the counsel for the Respondent – State & its officials and Election Commission of India (ECI) vehemently opposed the plea contending that political rallies of the kind are routinely held in every General Election, be it to the Parliament or to the State Legislative Assemblies and that the petitioner was not justified in seeking a complete embargo on the same.
The Additional Advocate General (AAG) also apprised the court that the State administration and the Police are fully prepared to manage the law & order situation during the scheduled rallies.
He further informed the court that since the election announcement for the Karnataka State Legislative Assembly by the ECI, 2517 political rallies had been organized in the State of which 371 were held in Bengaluru City itself. Not even one sporadic untoward incident is reported, the AAG submitted.
Court opined that a complete embargo on the political rallies as sought by the petitioner could not be directed. However, the rallies of this kind can also not be held in any manner and in any way and at any time sans any control & regulation, said the court.
While passing the order, court took into account the submissions made by the District Electoral Officer, Tushar Girinath, IAS about the preparedness for the subject political events. In light of the same, the court said,
"These high-ranking Officers are not drawn from kindergarten. They have put in long service and therefore, would have accumulated administrative expertise in matters of the kind. Subjects like this ordinarily pertain to the domain of the Executive, and Courts cannot run a race of opinions with Government of the day, especially when assurance of maintaining law & order is given by its high functionaries."
Moreover, the court opined that it had no reason to disagree with the submission made by the Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru City that no difficulty would arise to the run of city life should permission be granted to the political party in question for organizing the political rallies in the form of road shows tomorrow i.e., 06.05.2023 during 9.00 am & 1.30 pm covering a road length of about 26 kms and on 07.05.2023 during 9.am & 11.30 am covering a road length of about 6.5 kms.
"The comparative shortness of the time duration and road length on 07.05.2023 is stated to be because of the NEET Examinations scheduled to be held on the said day from 2.00 pm onwards. This is really appreciable," the court further highlighted.
In view of the same and while taking into account the broad submission made from the side of respondents that if the political rally is undertaken on Saturday and Sunday this week, all precautionary measures would be taken, the high court laid the present petition to rest.
Case Title: AMRUTHESH N P v. STATE OF KARNATAKA and OTHERS
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