Voters in Uttar Pradesh will have an extra hour to cast their ballot to ensure social distancing for COVID-19 is maintained, Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra said Thursday, as he confirmed that Assembly polls for UP and four other states will proceed as planned.
"Commission has decided to increase poling time by an hour - across the state - to ensure voting with social distancing," Mr Chandra said, bringing back the one-hour extension ordered ahead of elections in Bengal, Assam and three other states earlier this year.
Mr Chandra also announced other measures meant to try and stop the virus from spreading as much as possible, including double-vaccination all poll workers, and adding extra voting booths.
UP, Punjab, Manipur, Goa, and Uttarakhand will vote in February-March, even as the country stares down the barrel of a third wave of Covid cases fuelled, in no small measure, by the Omicron variant.
Mr Chandra today said all political parties in UP - including the ruling BJP and the opposition Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Congress - were in favour of holding the election.
He said all parties had offered suggestions on how to minimise the spread of cases - something that will happen as each holds massive rallies to campaign for their candidates.
He also said that only four cases of the more infectious (than Delta) Omicron variant - whose numbers are increasing at a worrying pace - have been reported from UP.
At least two of the states that held Assembly elections this year - Bengal and Assam - saw a spurt in Covid cases following campaign rallies led by senior political leaders, attended by senior political leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Ahead of those elections the top poll body announced similar measures as today.
The subject of election rallies in UP - India's most populous state and one with less-than-stellar healthcare infrastructure - has already been red-flagged with parties taking shots at each other.
On this subject Mr Chandra said: "We have discussed all this with the (Union) Health Secretary and other officials, and we will definitely issue detailed guidelines once elections are announced."
Asked who would control mass gatherings until then, he said the commission's responsibility only kicked in once the MCC (model code of conduct) is enforced (when dates are announced)." Right now, the responsibility is with the govt and the state's disaster management agency," he said.
There are already rampant violations of Covid guidelines in UP; last week, visuals from a women's marathon held by the Congress, a rally by Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav at Unnao, and a roadshow by Home Minister Amit Shah in Hardoi all showed people paying no attention to the rules.
The Election Commission's comments today come after Mr Chandra led a three-member team to review poll preparations in UP. This, in turn, was after the Allahabad High Court asked the poll body to consider deferring the election (in UP and other states) because of the Omicron variant.
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