Assembly Elections 2022: Political parties want polls to be conducted on time following all COVID-19 protocols, says EC

The Election Commission on Thursday held a press conference at 12 pm amid demands to postpone polls due to the Omicron threat. Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra revealed that “representatives of all political parties met us and told us that elections should be conducted on time following all COVID-19 protocols”. He said, “The tenure of UP Assembly ends on 14 May. We have met representatives of the political parties, all district magistrates and superintendents of police of the districts, other senior officers. We also met GST, ED, IT officials. We want to keep election free of corrupt practices. These agencies have given clear instructions to ensure the same.” He also said, the final voters list will be released on 5 January 2022. People above 80 years of age, persons with disabilities, and COVID-19 affected people who are unable to come to the polling booth, the Election Commission will reach their doorsteps for vote. Besides, VVPATs will be installed at all voting booths. Live webcasting facilities will be available at around 1 lakh voting booths to ensure transparency in election process, he declared. Revising the time of polling, Chandra said “voting during Assembly elections will be held from 8am to 6pm on the date of polling.” Drawing attention to the large poll rallies being held ahead of the elections amid surging COVID-19’s Delta and Omicron cases, a reporter present at the conference asked the ECE its take on it. Chandra said “big rallies are under our attention. A detailed guidelines about how to structure the big rallies will be issued after the MCC comes into force.” “We have discussed this issue with the health secretary here. When elections are announced, we will issue directions specifically on this issue looking at the situation then,” he added. He further added that the Allahabad High Court’s suggestion will be taken into account while deciding the dates of the election. The Allahabad High Court on 24 December had urged the ECI to postpone the upcoming legislative Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh by at least two months citing the coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, it is necessary to speed up COVID-19 vaccination in poll-bound states and all poll officials will be fully vaccinated, he declared. A delegation of the EC had met district and division level officials in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday to review the preparations for the next year’s state assembly elections. The delegation had held meetings with officials all through the day. An official spokesperson said the delegation met district magistrates, police chiefs, commissioners, IGs, DIGs and other officials and reviewed the preparations for the upcoming polls to ensure free and fair elections. Earlier, a booklet, voters’ guide, a pamphlet on information about EVMs and VVPAT machines prepared by the office of the chief electoral officer of Uttar Pradesh was released. On Tuesday, the EC delegation held meetings with various political parties — representatives of BJP, Congress, Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Lok Dal and Communist Party of India attended the meet. During the meetings, the BJP demanded that women security personnel be posted at every polling booth, while the SP sought a separate list of differently abled voters and those above the age of 80. The RLD had demanded that VVPAT slips be recounted. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.