All Poll Officials To Be Vaccinated Before Voting Day; Check Covid-19 Guidelines For Voters, Political Campaigns

Voting will take place for 126 seats in Assam, 234 in Tamil Nadu, 294 in West Bengal, 140 in Kerala and 30 in Puducherry.

Representative Photo: PTI

New Delhi: All individuals on election duty for the upcoming Assembly elections in five states will be vaccinated against Coronavirus before the day of voting, the Election Commission informed.

Nearly 18.68 crore people will be eligible to vote at 2.7 lakh polling stations for 824 seats in five assembly elections, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora had said at the press conference in Delhi.

Keeping the Coronavirus situation in mind, arrangements will be made for candidates to file their nominations online and voting will be allowed for an additional hour.

Voting will take place for 126 seats in Assam, 234 in Tamil Nadu, 294 in West Bengal, 140 in Kerala and 30 in Puducherry.

Webcasting arrangements will be made at polling stations in critical and vulnerable areas and adequate CAPF (Central Armed Police Forces) deployment also will be ensured for the assembly polls, Sunil Arora informed.

All critical and vulnerable areas have been identified and advance teams have been already deployed across all four states and one union territory Puducherry going to the polls, he added.

It was informed that the Health Ministry has declared everyone on poll duty as frontline workers when it comes to vaccination, meaning All poll officials will be vaccinated before the elections.

General Covid-19 Guidelines

Following are some of the important general guidelines provided by the Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) as notified last year:

For Political Campaigns: 

• Door to Door Campaign: A group of 5 persons including candidates, excluding security personnel, if any, is allowed to do door-to-door campaigning.
• Road Shows: The convoy of vehicles should be broken after every 5 (five) vehicles instead of 10 vehicles (excluding the security vehicles, if any). The interval between two sets of the convoy of vehicles should be half an hour instead of the gap of 100 meters. 
• Election Meetings: Public gatherings/ rallies may be conducted subject to adherence to extant Covid-19 guidelines.
  - District Election Officer should identify dedicated grounds for public gathering with clearly marked Entry/Exit points.
  - Markers to ensure social distancing norms by the attendees have to be put.
  - The number of attendees cannot exceed the limit prescribed by State Disaster Management Authority for public gatherings.
  - The political parties and candidates concerned should ensure that all Covid-19 related requirements like face masks, sanitizers, thermal scanning etc. are fulfilled.

For Voters:

• Every person has to wear a face mask during every election-related activity.
• Thermal Scanning of all persons will be carried out; Sanitizer, soap and water will be made available.
•  Social distancing has to be maintained as per the extant Covid-19 guidelines of the State Govt. and Ministry of Home Affairs.
• If a voter's temperature is above the set norms of MoHFW at first reading, then it will be checked twice and if it remains so, then the elector will be provided with a token/certificate and will be asked to come for voting at the last hour of the poll. This will be done strictly following Covid-19 related preventive measures.
• Covid-19 patients who are quarantined will be allowed to cast their vote at the last hour of the poll day at their respective Polling Stations, under the supervision of health authorities. 
• Hand gloves will be provided to the voter, for signing on the voter register and pressing the button of EVM for voting. Before this, masks will be given to those who are not wearing one.
• Electors who are marked as: Persons with Disabilities (PwD), above the age of 80 years, employed in notified Essential services, who are Covid- 19 positive/suspect and in quarantine (home/institutional) have the option to vote through postal ballot.