The Election Commission will visit the poll-bound state next week to review the situation, Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra said Friday, a day after the Allahabad High Court urged the Prime Minister to postpone the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections due to the threat of the Omicron variant of Covid-19. “We’ll go to Uttar Pradesh next week to assess the situation.” Then make the proper judgement,” CEC Sushil Chandra said during a news conference in Dehradun during a two-day visit to Uttarakhand to assess the state’s election preparations.
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When asked about the Allahabad High Court’s plea, Chandra stated that Uttarakhand has only one case of Omicron to far. He reaffirmed the EC’s election-safety procedures and stated that the Commission will operate in accordance with the Constitution and the Representation of the People Act, 1951. The Allahabad High Court on Thursday advised Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “take decisive action” and consider “stopping and delaying” rallies, gatherings, and elections.
“Today, again, elections to the Vidhan Sabha in UP are close, for which parties are conducting rallies and gatherings and attracting audiences of lakhs,” Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav stated in his decision, ordering the Registrar General of the Allahabad High Court to develop guidelines to cope with the situation. In these programmes, the Covid protocol cannot be observed. If this is not halted soon, the outcome will be much more terrifying than the second wave.” The Commission is now touring all of the poll-bound states in preparation for the upcoming assembly elections. It is normal for the Commission to travel to polling locations before declaring polling dates. Sushil Chandra, Anup Chandra Pandey, and Rajiv Kumar, the Chief Election Commissioner, have already visited the poll-bound states of Punjab, Goa, and Uttarakhand, and are slated to visit Uttar Pradesh and Manipur next.
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Despite the looming threat of another coronavirus disease pandemic, Chandra said during his review visit to Goa that the Election Commission is ready to hold elections in Goa (and by extension, other states going to polls around the same time), but emphasised that local election officials have been empowered to ensure strict adherence to Covid protocols during campaigning, and that polling itself will be held with adequate precautions. The legislative assemblies of Goa, Manipur, Punjab, and Uttarakhand will expire in March 2022, while the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly will expire in May. The Election Commission (EC) is required by law to hold elections within six months of the end of the Lok Sabha or Legislative Assembly’s five-year term. The elections are normally scheduled such that the new Assembly, or Lok Sabha, is in place on the day of the current House’s dissolution.
