Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Jan 15: As the political parties began preparations in full swing for the elections to the five state Assemblies next month, the Election Commission of India on Saturday further extended the ban on rallies and roadshows by one more week till January 22.
It, however, decided to allow indoor political meetings subject to a cap of 300 people, 50 per cent of the hall’s capacity, or the limit set by the state’s disaster management authority, the ECI said.
In view of the surge in the Covid cases in the country ahead of elections in five states – Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur, he ECI had on January 8 had banned rallies, roadshows, and other kinds of political events, indoors and outdoors, till January 15 (today), and that the order would then be reviewed.
On Saturday before taking a decision on extending the ban order held a series of meetings – with the Union Health Secretary in the morning, with the Chief and Health Secretaries of all poll-bound states at noon, and Chief Election Officers in the afternoon. The order banning rallies and roadshows was passed as part of a 16-point list aimed at holding polls in the five states “as safely as possible.”
Included in that list of ‘no-no’ activities were the holding of nukkad sabhas, or roadside meets, and limiting the number of people for door-to-door campaigning. On Friday, former UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party came under the poll body’s scanner after massive crowds gathered for the induction of two ex-BJP ministers – Swami Prasad Maurya and Dharam Singh Saini, as well as six other MLAs. Videos showed hundreds gathered – a majority wore no masks and did not maintain social distance.
UP Police have filed a FIR against 2,500 individuals; a senior Lucknow district officer said “prima facie, there was violation… investigations are underway”. A notice was pasted at the party office. On Saturday, Yadav said: “I appeal to (all) to abide by Covid protocols when they come to (our) office.”
UP reported a massive 1,300 per cent increase in Covid infections in the first week of this month, while 16 of Punjab’s 22 districts have positivity rates over five per cent, which is the danger level. UP has seen its active caseload spike to nearly 90,000, while Punjab, Goa, Manipur, and Uttarakhand have seen their active cases increase to over 60,000 between them.
Medical experts and civil society groups, as well as the Allahabad High Court had called for polls to be deferred, but the poll body said it was constitutionally bound hold elections in a “timely” manner.
Elections were held in Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry this time last year, where many were without face masks as they attended rallies led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and other political leaders, where social distancing was absent as the poll body had failed to implement the restrictions strongly. The elections was followed by the devastating second wave that led to millions being getting infected and lakhs of people dead. With memories of that in mind, concerns had been raised that campaign events could once again become super-spreaders, particularly with the faster transmitting Omicron variant now driving the infections. The polling in the five states due to begin from February 10 and continue till March 7 with results to be declared on March 10.
On Saturday, India reported more 2.68 lakh new Covid cases taking the active caseload to over 14 lakhs, highest since June 1.
Meanwhile, the BJP declared its first list of 107 candidates for the UP elections and also set at rest speculations about the seat from where the chief minister Yogi Adityanath would contest. Contrary to the expectations that the party might set Yogi from Ayodhya or Mathura, the BJP has put up the chief minister from his home constituency of Gorakhpur.
The Congress which had declared its first list from UP a couple of days ago, on Saturday released its first list from Punjab setting philanthropist and Bollywood actor Sony Sood’s sister for the Moga seat instantly throwing its sitting MLA out of the party and straight into the BJP net.
