Prior to the announcement of the 5 state elections, Election Commission officials inspected the situation in Corona with the Health Secretary.
EC meets Health Secretary to review Covid-19 situation ahead of Assembly polls in 5 states: In the run-up to the Assembly elections in five states early next year, top officials of the Election Commission on Monday asked Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan to review the corona situation in view of the highly contagious Omigron variant. Met.
The meeting comes just days after the Allahabad High Court last week urged the Election Commission and the Prime Minister to postpone the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections due to the threat of Corona’s Omigran variation.
“The commission officials will go to Lucknow on Tuesday afternoon for an election readiness review meeting and return on the afternoon of the 30th,” an Election Commission official said.
The Ministry of Health has sent diverse teams to the states of Uttar Pradesh and Punjab due to the situation where the vaccination rate is below the national average. For the next 3 to 5 days those committees in the states will assess the situation, recommend remedial action, and submit a report daily by 7 p.m.
Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra said the announcement would be made after the Election Commission reviewed the situation in the states last Friday.
On December 23, the Secretary of Health ordered a “rapid increase in vaccinations” in states facing elections, especially in areas with “low vaccine coverage” to protect vulnerable people.
During the review meeting with all the states, Rajesh Bhushan said that areas with low vaccine coverage could be more affected by the new Omigran variant and asked district administrations to pay special attention to increase vaccination in these areas. Elections will be held in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur early next year.
During a visit to Uttarakhand last week, Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra said that when asked about the request of the Allahabad High Court, he was told that there was an Omigron vulnerability in Uttarakhand so far. He also reiterated the Election Commission’s efforts to ensure a safe transfer of elections from the Corona, saying the Commission would take action under the Constitution and the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
Last Friday, the Allahabad High Court urged the Prime Minister to “take strong action” and to consider “suspending and postponing” rallies, meetings and elections.
The Election Commission is currently going to all the states where elections will be held before the Assembly elections. It is customary for the Election Commission to visit the states where the elections are to be held before announcing the election date. Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra, Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey and Rajiv Kumar are scheduled to visit the states of Punjab, Goa and Uttarakhand where the polls are already being held, followed by Uttar Pradesh and Manipur.
During his review visit to Goa, the Chief Electoral Commissioner said that the Election Commission was ready to hold elections in Goa in defiance of the threat of another wave of corona virus infection (and other states are going to the polls at the same time), but empowered state election officials to ensure strict adherence to Govt norms during the campaign. He stressed that the ballot will be taken with adequate precautionary measures. The term of the current Legislative Assemblies of Goa, Manipur, Punjab and Uttarakhand ends in March 2022, while the term of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly ends in May.
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