ECI & Health Ministry Officials To Meet Today, Discussion On Conducting Polls Amid Omicron Scare

The meeting comes after Allahabad HC urged the PM and ECI to postpone elections in Uttar Pradesh for one to two months to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

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New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) will hold a meeting with Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan and other senior members of the health ministry to take stock of the covid-19 situation in the country today at 11 AM in light of the upcoming assembly elections in five states.

“The Election Commission of India will convene a meeting on December 27 at 11 am with senior officials of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare including Secretary Rajesh Bhushan. The meeting will discuss the prevailing COVID19 situation for upcoming Assembly elections in five states,” a source told news agency ANI.

The terms of Goa, Uttarakhand, Punjab, and Manipur legislative assemblies are set to end in March and that of Uttar Pradesh assembly in May. The ECI is supposed to declare the dates of the election in these states likely by next month.

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The meeting comes after Allahabad HC urged the Prime Minister and ECI to postpone elections in Uttar Pradesh for one to two months to prevent the spread of coronavirus and its new variant Omicron which is highly transmissible.

The Allahabad HC had also requested to put a ban on political rallies and public meetings.

“If rallies are not stopped, results will be worse than the second wave,” Justice Shekhar Yadav said, adding that, “Jaan hai toh Jahaan hai (if there is life, we have the world).” 

Amid the speculations of how to conduct an election without giving a passage to the Omicron variant into masses, some parties are also thinking upon holding virtual rallies and virtual campaigning. 

In view of the increasing number of covid-19 cases, some states have also imposed a night curfew including poll-bound UP. While it has been evident that covid-19 protocol is not followed during elections, and the rallies can become super spreader, the decision of ECI will define the course of the upcoming elections.