On Court's Suggestion To Defer Elections, Poll Body's UP Visit Next Week

A day after the Allahabad High Court suggested deferring the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections due to a possible Omicron-led third Covid wave, Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra on Friday said an appropriate decision will be taken on the issue after his UP visit next week.

A bench of Justice Shekhar Yadav had on Thursday urged the government and the poll panel to consider postponing the UP assembly elections for a month or two and banning all political rallies amid the fears of an impending third wave of Covid.

"I will be visiting UP next week. An appropriate decision as required by the situation will be taken after we review it," CEC Chandra told reporters here in reply to a question on the high court's observation.

The CEC was asked whether deferment of polls was possible as the Allahabad High Court has expressed concern over the rising cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus.

On Uttarakhand's situation, Mr Chandra said he had asked Chief Secretary SS Sandhu about Omicron cases in the state and was told that there was only one case of the latest variant of COVID-19 in the state.

The CEC also spoke of various anti-Covid safeguards taken by the Commission and sought to assure that whatever is required will be done as per the "Constitutional position" to check the spread of the virus.

As for Uttarakhand, it has reported only one case of Omicron variant so far and all adults have been administered the first dose of the vaccine in the state, the CEC said, adding "the situation here seems under control".

"However, I can assure you whatever is required by the situation will be done," he said.

On anti-Covid measures decided by the poll panel for the voting day, the CEC said the number of voters per polling station has been reduced from 1,500 earlier to 1,200 leading to the creation of 623 new polling booths in Uttarakhand.

The total number of polling booths in the state after the addition of new ones will be 11,647, Mr Chandra said, adding that means there is one polling booth per 700 voters in Uttarakhand.

Measures have been taken to ensure all polling centres are safe against Covid, he said.

The CEC further said during the upcoming assembly elections, Uttarakhand will have 100 polling booths, all manned by women and five others manned by only differently-abled poll officials to encourage voting by the respective segments of voters.

All polling stations in the state will have the minimum facilities of power, water, ramps, toilets and shades and they all will have VVPAT-equipped EVMs, he added.

The poll panel has also identified 601 grounds and 277 buildings for campaigning, the CEC said, adding that candidates can book them online and they will be allotted on a first-come-first-served basis.

To ensure that the maximum number of voters exercise their franchise, people above 80 years of age are being given the facility to vote from home in Uttarakhand for the first time.

Voters above 80 years of age who are unable to go to a polling booth to cast their vote will have to fill 12D form, the CEC said, adding that booth level officers will visit their homes to have the form filled up after elections are notified and the polling will be conducted with total transparency as it will be video-graphed with prior information to political parties.

A mobile app has also been created so that people can easily report to the commission the violations of the model code of conduct and distribution of liquor, drug and other freebies to influence voters.

On such complaints, poll officials will rush to the spot and initiate stern action against offenders, he said.

In a bid to further check decriminalisation of politics, it has been decided that all political parties will publish the details of criminal cases of their candidates with possible criminal antecedents.

The candidates will also have to provide details of the criminal cases against them to the print and electronic media, he said.