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It’s a rap well-earned. The Election Commission on Monday came in for exceptionally harsh words from Madras High Court that not only held the poll panel singularly responsible for the surge in COVID 19 tide but also said that EC officials could be prosecuted on murder charges.

Holding elections in a country of fierce politics like India is an onerous task. Managing it at a time when a virus, against which the nation is completely ill-equipped, is on the prowl, makes it even more challenging.

For a number of years after Independence, despite the exalted position it has in our democracy, the Election Commission has been a toothless tiger, something like a Pied Piper who plays to somebody else’s tune. Then came T N Seshan and people began to look up to it as an institution that is really independent. The poll panel has to renew the pledge to the nation and demonstrate that it has a mind of its own.

Courts have the benefit of hindsight. But the EC should have paid heed to the warning of a possible second wave. It should have refrained from following the trend in the wider polity that “celebrated” the retreating first wave between September 2020 and mid-February 2021.

EC would have also thought of curbs of campaigning that went on freely in all the five states. Though elections without campaigning is like playing Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark, extraordinary situations call for out-of-the-box thinking. Thanks to the campaigns, the infection spread so fast in Bengal that EC had to ban mass gatherings and roadshows before the last two phases of Bengal elections on April 26 and April 29.

It should have foreseen the consequences of free-for-all campaigns. Caution and anticipation are critical requirements for any public institution.