EC plans new Covid-19 guidelines for elections
NEW DELHI: The Election Commission, widely criticised for its management of the last round of assembly elections which were held around the time the second wave of the coronavirus disease pandemic was emerging, is taking no chances as it prepares for upcoming elections across five states.
Nor are political parties, which came under fire during the last round for large rallies and road shows.
On Thursday, EC held its second meeting with health secretary Rajesh Bhushan to take stock of the situation amid the rise in Omicron cases across the country. On Thursday, the number of new Covid-19 cases in India crossed 100,000 for the first time since June last year.
And the Congress has called off its rallies in Uttar Pradesh, UP’S chief minister Yogi Adityanath cancelled a large rally planned for Noida, the Bharatiya Janata Party has deferred many large rallies including one to be addressed by the Prime Minister in the state, and the party’s Goa unit has opted for door-to-door campaigning instead of any large events.
People familiar with the matter said EC, headed by chief election commissioner Sushil Chandra and comprising election commissioners Rajiv Kumar and Anup Chandra Pandey, discussed with the health ministry, the status of the pandemic in the poll going states, including the positivity rate and the percentage of the population vaccinated.
Elections are due to be held in March in the states of Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Uttar Pradesh and Goa.
“The states are intensifying the vaccination process,” one of the people cited above, who works in EC, added on condition of anonymity.
“Discussions on rallies did take place and the panel will take some decisions on them as well as new Covid-19 guidelines,” a second person, aware of the meeting, said.
This person said the meeting involved health secretary Rajesh Bhushan, AIIMS head Dr Randeep Guleria and Indian Council of Medical Research chief Balram Bhargava.
“The health ministry gave the panel the exact position in five states. They said UP has vaccinated 88% of the eligible population with the first dose and 52% with the second, and the positivity rate was 0.2% which is quite low. Only 32 Omicron cases have been confirmed so UP seems quite safe,” this person said.
The new plans to put out a new set of Covid guidelines, covering campaigning, the actual voting process, and the counting of votes. These guidelines, which could include a cap on the number of people allowed to attend public meetings (this was set at 500 during the latter part of the campaigning for the West Bengal assembly elections) are expected to be announced along with the poll dates.
Most political parties are expected to focus on digital or door-to-door campaigns. At best, there could be small gatherings, HT learns. “All public meetings stand cancelled due to a rise in Covid 19 cases,’’ said BJP chief in Goa Sadanand Shet Tanavade, adding, “We will focus on small gatherings.’’
The election body has already issued certain Covid-19 directions to all states, including writing to the chief secretaries to expedite vaccination; increasing the number of polling stations; and reducing the number of people who will vote in each booth.
Earlier this year, EC courted controversy throughout the eightphase Bengal election. An FIR was also filed against the EC for culpable homicide by the wife of a TMC candidate.