[BREAKING] Karnataka High Court refuses to stay Prime Minister Narendra Modi road shows in Bengaluru

The Karnataka High Court on Friday refused to pass orders staying the two road shows of Prime Minister Narendra Modi set to be conducted in Bengaluru this weekend ahead of the State Assembly elections..A Bench of Justices Krishna S Dixit and Vijaykumar A Patil said in its order,"Ideally speaking, we would have declined interference in the matter in the absence of the subject political party.. However, we do not chose to do that extreme, since the Petitioner gave up the claim for absolute ban on the scheduled events. In the above circumstances, this Petition is laid to rest.".The Court orally clarified that in case of any untoward incident, the organisers will be held responsible, irrespective of which political party they belong to. This observation, however, did not form part of the order. .During the hearing, the Court observed that in India, elections are treated as festive celebrations and that rallies have been held right from the first general election in 1952.It noted that political rallies have an element of dissemination of knowledge and information about the election process to the public at large for them to exercise choice and highlighted that the Supreme Court in Lily Thomas vs Union of India acknowledged the need for this dissemination.Further, the Court noted that decisions of the Kerala and Calcutta High Courts specifically permit the conduct of such rallies during the election process and otherwise..The Court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Advocate Amruthesh NP through Advocate Viswanath Sabarad highlighting the negative impact of the preliminary campaigns conducted by political parties contesting the upcoming Karnataka assembly elections. One of the interim prayers made in the plea was for a stay on the two road shows of PM Modi, scheduled to be held in Bengaluru over the weeken.The petitioner informed the Court that political leaders conducting road shows in Bengaluru have been extending their campaign hours from the usual 1 or 2 hours to 4 or 5 hours, thereby causing more inconvenience to the public.Further, the plea specifically highlighted that the road show of PM Modi was expected to gather a massive crowd of 10 lakh party supporters on main commercial roads in Bengaluru.The petitioner expressed concern that this would cause significant disruption to citizens, and that establishments in the city that cannot be compensated for by any political party.Furthermore, the petitioner brought to the Court's notice that all political parties were planning similar road shows on May 9, and even after the vote counting on May 13 if they win. He claimed that despite this, no precautionary measures had been taken by the Bengaluru Police to curb the adverse effects of road shows..The petition before the High Court requested the examination of police records pertaining to the approval of permits and any related traffic regulations. Additionally, it asked for a directive to prevent the police from granting permission for road shows in Bengaluru and Karnataka, in the interest of justice and equity.The petition further prayed for regulation and restriction of road shows after the vote counting process to avoid any possible clashes between political parties. As an interim measure, it requested the Court to stay PM Modi's road show scheduled for May 6 and 7..The respondents opposed the plea, contending that necessary parties, namely the recognised registered national political party is not made one of the respondents, and therefore, no relief can be granted.Appearing for the State, the Additional Advocate General submitted that the election rallies for the purpose of campaigning have been held since long and no untoward incident has been reported so far. With respect to the State of Karnataka, he claimed that since the elections were announced, 2,517 rallies were carried out without a single untoward incident being reported. Of these, 371 were reportedly in Bengaluru..Counsel for the district election officer submitted that the right to hold rallies during the election process has elements of right to speech, assembly and movement guaranteed under Article 19 of the Indian Constitution.He also gave inputs stating that the application or grant of permission for the road show would be treated on normative basis, keeping in view all relevant factors.Additionally, he stated that if permission was to be granted it would be for 26 kilometres on May 6 and 6.5 kilometres on May 7. Keeping in view the NEET examination on the later day.The Election Commission of India (ECI) submitted that these rallies are happening all over the country, particularly during election process, and whether or not they are permitted is a matter pertaining to domain of law and order lying in the lap of the State. .The Court asked the Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru, Pratap Reddy, IPS, how the State planned to handle heightened emotions at the road show. The Commissioner responded with security details including screening of visitors, barricading to prevent stampede, traffic diversions etc.The Commissioner further stated that social media and radio stations will be utilised to make announcements for the public. He added that control rooms will be notified if they come across any information regarding ambulances getting stuck, so that routes can be cleared."Police takes every precautionary measure. We also have emergency teams in case of any untoward incidents, but so far we have been successful in avoiding," he stated.On whether the Bengaluru police had enough personnel to help carry out the road show safely, the Commissioner replied in the affirmative..[Read Order]