New Delhi: With elections to five states (Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur) just months away, the Election Commission on Monday assessed the Covid-19 situation with the Union health secretary. The EC also asked the Narcotics Control Bureau to check the influence of drugs in elections, PTI reported.
Officials of ITBP, BSF and SSB were also present at the meeting. The EC asked them to maintain strict vigil on international borders some of the poll-going states share.
Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan briefed the poll panel for nearly an hour on the Covid situation in the country, especially the poll-bound Uttarakhand, Manipur, Goa, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. The issue of the spread of Omicron variant of the coronavirus was also discussed, PTI reported.
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Much hullabaloo and speculations were rife ahead of the meeting between ECI and Union Health Ministry as certain sections expected postponement of assembly elections 2022 or restrictions on election rallies amid omicron scare.
The terms of Goa, Uttarakhand, Punjab, and Manipur legislative assemblies are set to end in March and that of Uttar Pradesh in May. ECI is supposed to declare the dates of the election in these states.
The Election Commission is expected to announce election dates next month.
Meanwhile, the meeting also came after Allahabad HC requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi and ECI to postpone elections in Uttar Pradesh for a month or two to prevent the spread of coronavirus and its new variant omicron.
Allahabad HC had also urged to put a ban on political rallies and public meetings during the course of the poll campaign. “If rallies are not stopped, results will be worse than the second wave,” Justice Shekhar Yadav had said while making his observations.