NEW DELHI, Dec 24: The Election Commission of India is expected to take a decision on the timings of holding the state Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh next week. A day after the Allahabad High Court requested the ECI to postpone the UP Assembly elections, due in February, by a few months in view of the threat from Omicron variant of Coronavirus, the Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra said on Friday the EC would visit the State next week to review the situation.
Chandra was speaking at a press conference in Dehradun during a two-day visit to Uttarakhand to review the preparations for the Assembly elections in the State, also scheduled for next year. The EC had visited Punjab and Goa recently for similar reviews and is set to visit U.P. next week.
When asked about the Allahabad High Court’s request, Chandra said he had been informed that Uttarakhand so far had one case of Omicron. He reiterated the EC’s measures for making elections COVID-safe and said the Commission would take action as per the Constitution and the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
According to Section 153 of the RP Act, the EC can “for reasons which it considers sufficient” extend the time for completing any election by making the necessary amendments in its notification. However, since no notification has yet been issued for any of h five states scheduled to go to the polls early next year – Manipur, Goa, Uttarakhand, U.P. and Punjab – the section would not be applicable.
The demand for postponing elections was raised by some political parties in 2020, ahead of the first State Assembly polls to be held during the pandemic, in Bihar. The ECI, however, had gone ahead with the scheduled polling time while byelections to 18 Rajya Sabha seats had been deferred in March 2020 as the country was under lockdown.
Elections are supposed to conclude before the term of the legislature is scheduled to end, for which the EC starts preparations in advance, seeking information from the government regarding the prevailing conditions. The Constitution provides for the option of extending the duration of a State legislature beyond the five-year term in case there is a Proclamation of Emergency for a period of one year at a time. In case the EC cannot hold elections, it would inform the Centre and the State could be placed under President’s Rule. In the past, the EC postponed elections after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi while campaigning in Tamil Nadu in 1991.
(Manas Dasgupta)