State Polls Unlikely To Be Postponed Amid Omicron Scare: Sources

Five state elections scheduled early next year are unlikely to be postponed, sources said today, days after a court in Uttar Pradesh urged India's powerful election body to defer the vote by a month or two over the Omicron worry.

The Election Commission is likely to stick to the schedule and follow the constitutional mandate of polls before the term of the state assemblies end. Elections are due in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand and Manipur.

The Goa assembly term ends on March 15, the Manipur assembly's term ends on March 19 and the Uttar Pradesh assembly ends on May 14.

As Omicron cases rise, the Election Commission today consulted with the Health Secretary and sought details on vaccine coverage and infections, sources said. The Election Commission also discussed the need for strict Covid protocol.

The poll body will visit Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday to oversee the state's election preps. Officials will also meet with the chiefs of paramilitary forces on deployment for the election. 

On Friday, the Allahabad High Court requested the Election Commission to postpone the polls and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ban election rallies and other gatherings.

"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 everything)."

Justice Yadav remarked that the Bengal election and Gram Panchayat polls had infected many and had also caused deaths.

Various parties have amped up their campaigns for the polls, especially in Uttar Pradesh, India's most politically significant state with the most number of Lok Sabha seats.

Rally crowds have been swelling in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab alongside an uptick in cases of Omicron, the highly contagious variant of Covid detected last month in South Africa.