Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Jan 22: The Election Commission on Saturday further extended the ban on physical rallies and roadshows in five poll-bound states till January 31 amid the third wave of the Covid pandemic in the country. The decision was taken by the Election Commission following a meeting with the Union health secretary and the chief health secretaries of the five states.
The commission has, however, granted relaxation for physical public meetings of political parties/contesting candidates for Phase 1 from January 28 and for Phase 2 from February 1. The upper limit of five people permitted for the door-to-door campaign has been enhanced to 10. Video vans for publicity have been permitted at designated open spaces with Covid restrictions.
Initially, the ban was meant till January 15 which was then extended by a week till January 22. The ban was imposed on January 8 when the Election Commission announced the election schedule for these five states following which the model code of conduct came into effect.
The case trajectory of the five states and the vaccination coverage are key factors in allowing relaxations. As far as vaccination is concerned, Uttar Pradesh which currently has 98,238 active Covid cases has inoculated 96% of its population with the first dose in the 18 plus category. Uttarakhand has vaccinated 99% of its population with the first dose and 84% with the second dose. Goa has vaccinated 98% of its population above 18 years of age with a second dose of the vaccine.
Meanwhile, the Congress in UP received a jolt on Saturday when one of its candidates deserted the party and joined the Samajwadi Party and was promptly nominated as its candidate for the same seat. The Former Bareilly Mayor and senior Congress leader Supriya Aron joined the SP in the presence of party chief Akhilesh Yadav, who also announced that she will contest the upcoming elections from the Bareilly Cantt seat.
Akhilesh welcomed Supriya, her husband and former Congress MP from Bareilly Pravin Singh Aron, and Rita Singh, the wife of late Raja Mahavir Singh, an MLA from the Sandila seat in Hardoi.
“I congratulate them on joining the SP. The SP has become strengthened because you are joining and we will form the government,” said Akhilesh. He added Rita and Pravin will also contest the election on SP ticket.
Supriya was among the Congress candidates in the first list announced by the party on January 13 for the polls. She had contested the 2012 state polls from the Bareilly Cantt seat and had stood fourth with 16,310 votes (10.59 per cent). The seat was won by the BJP’s Rajesh Agarwal, who bagged 51,893 votes. Agarwal is currently the sitting MLA from the seat.
Later, the SP national general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav also formally announced Akhilesh Yadav’s candidature from Mainpuri’s Karhal seat.
