The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday extended the ban on roadshows and political rallies in all poll-bound states till February 11 in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic situation in the country.
The commission, however, granted some more relaxations to the restrictions in place. These include increasing the upper limit of persons in physical public meetings of political parties or contesting candidates to 1,000 from the current 500 or 50 per cent of the venue capacity – whichever is lesser.
The Commission has also increased the limit for door to door campaigns. Instead of 10 persons, now 20 persons, excluding security personnel, will be allowed for door to door campaigns. These rule will be effective from February 1 for all phases of the five assembly elections.
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The EC met with health and electoral officials from the five states going to polls to review the present situation of Covid 19 infection and projected trends.
Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra, along with Election Commissioners Rajiv Kumar and Anup Chandra Pandey accompanied by the secretary general and the concerned deputy election commissioners, also held a separate review of the present status and projected trends of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“In depth discussions were also held with respect to current vaccination status of 1st, 2nd doses for eligible persons in the respective States as also arrangements for polling personnel. All the State Chief secretaries informed the Commission about reports of Covid 19 infection either plateauing out or tapering as on date. They also said that the positivity rate is showing a decline with the number of hospitalisation cases also registering a declining trend,” the EC said.
(With inputs from agencies)
