No political rallies till Jan 15 in five poll-bound states: EC
NEW DELHI: Amid a surge in Covid-19 cases, the Election Commission on Saturday banned election rallies, roadshows and corner meetings till January 15 for the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa, Manipur and Uttarakhand.
Chief election commissioner Sushil Chandra said the poll authority will review the Covid-19 situation on January 15 and take a further call on allowing public rallies.
“No physical rally of political parties or probably candidates or any other group related to elections shall be allowed till January 15. The Election Commission will subsequently review the situation and issue further instructions accordingly,” Chandra told reporters here while announcing the poll schedule for the five states.
“The Commission will not hesitate to bar parties from further rallies if Covid protocol is not followed,” he added.
The Commission also set out stringent Covid guidelines, restricting the number of persons allowed for door-to-door campaigns to five.
Political parties have been asked to provide masks, hand sanitisers to people attending rallies, if they are allowed, Chandra said.
The Commission has also banned victory celebrations and only two persons will be allowed to accompany the candidate to collect the winning certificate. Amid spike in Covid cases, the ECI has informed that senior citizens above 80 years of age, persons with disabilities and Covid-19 patients can vote by postal ballots.
“Our civil application should be used by voters to report any incident of violation of the Model Code of Conduct, distribution of money and freebies. Within 100 minutes of complaint, ECI officials will reach the place of the offence,” Chandra said. Asked about experts predicting the third wave of the Covid pandemic to peak in February, when voting for five of the seven phases of the polls will take place, he said the situation is very dynamic and nobody can predict Covid numbers of future date. He also assured voters that all necessary steps are being taken to ensure “Covid safe” elections and said they should come out in large numbers to exercise their franchise as polling booths will be sanitised and polling officers vaccinated.
The EC said that it has asked chief secretaries of the pollbound states to expedite the vaccination drive.
“More than 15 crore have got first dose, more than nine crore have got both doses in the five states,” Chandra said.
The EC has also doubled the air time on Doordarshan for political parties, he said.
Goa, Punjab, Manipur, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh are slated to go for Assembly elections this year.
The commission announced the poll dates for the states with Uttar Pradesh going for seven-phase assembly election from February 10, Manipur to go for two-phase election from February 27 and Punjab, Goa and Uttarakhand to face elections on Februrary 14.
There are 403 Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh, 70 seats are up for grabs in Uttarakhand, 117 seats in Punjab, 40 seats in Goa and 60 seats in Manipur.
The counting of votes in all states will take place on March 10.
Out of these 5 poll-bound states, the BJP is in power in 4 states including Goa, Manipur, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh. Leaders from all the political parties are campaigning aggressively for months to register their win in the upcoming polls.
A total of 18.34 crore electors including service voters will take part in the upcoming Assembly elections, the poll body said. “A total of 18.34 crore electors including service voters will take part in this election out of which 8.55 crore are women electors. 24.9 lakh first-time electors are registered in the five poll-bound states,” Chandra said.
“ECI has mandated that at least one polling station managed exclusively by women shall be set up in every Assembly constituency. Our officers have identified much more than that. There are 690 Assembly seats but we are setting up 1620 such polling booths,” he added.