Elections in 5 States From 10th Feb 2022
The Election Commission has announced the dates for the assembly election in 5 states.
The Election Commission is ready to conduct Assembly elections in five States — Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Manipur and Goa.
Elections to Uttar Pradesh Assembly will be held in seven phases beginning from 10th, 14th, 20th, 23rd, 27th February 2022 and 3rd and 7th March. Manipur will have two-phase elections on 27th February 2022 and 3rd March 2022. Punjab, Uttarakhand and Goa will have a single phase election on 14th February 2022. The counting of votes will be on 10th March 2022.
Amidst COVID-19 surge, the elections are going to take place in these States. So the Election Commission plans to implement strict protocols to ensure COVID appropriate behaviour.
Some of the rules that have been announced are:
-
The polling time will be increased by one hour.
-
Political parties and candidates are advised to conduct their campaigns in virtual and digital modes as much as possible instead of physical mode.
-
No roadshow, bike rally, padyatra, procession will be allowed till January 15. No physical rally will be allowed till January 15.
-
No victory celebration will be allowed. Only two people can accompany the candidate to collect the winning certificate.
-
Nukkad sabha and street meets are also banned.
-
Political parties should provide masks and sanitiser to people attending the rally, if they are allowed.
-
Only five people will be allowed to take part in door-to-door campaigns.
-
The Election Commission will not hesitate to cancel and bar (ban) parties from further rallies if COVID protocol is not followed.
Apart from these precautionary rules, the election commission also said that all officials on election duty will be double vaccinated. They are considered as frontline workers and they will be given booster doses too, if eligible. With this, all polling officials will be safe.
