Elections 2022: The Election Commission of India is unlikely to postpone the next elections in five states (Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa, and Manipur) despite a sharp increase in cases of the highly transmissible variant Omicron Covid-19, reported NDTV citing sources.
Elections 2022 in all five states are scheduled to take place in February-March next year. The Election Commission of India is expected to announce polling dates next month.
The terms of the legislatures of Goa, Uttarakhand, Punjab, and Manipur are expected to end in March and that of Uttar Pradesh in May.
Earlier today, the Election Commission of India took stock of the Covid-19 situation in the five election-related states in a meeting with the Union’s Health Secretary and called on the government to step up the vaccination program.
The EC noted that the percentage of those who received the first dose of the vaccine was even lower in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and Manipur, while it approached 100% in Uttarakhand and Goa, PTI reported.
The election panel also called on Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan to speed up the administration of the second dose in these five election-related states. The issue of the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus was also discussed, PTI reported.
The EC also asked the Narcotics Control Bureau to verify the influence of drugs in the elections, the PTI reported.
On Tuesday, the chief electoral commissioner and election commissioners are expected to visit Uttar Pradesh to take stock of preparations for the poll in the state. The commission has already visited the Punjab, Goa and Uttarakhand.
Last week, a bench of Allahabad High Court Judge Shekhar Yadav urged the government and the Election Commission to consider postponing the Uttar Pradesh elections by a month or two and banning all gatherings politicians amid fears of an impending third wave of Covid.
Omicron case in India
India’s Omicron tally has already passed the 500 mark. Delhi has recorded the highest number of Omicron cases in the country (142), followed by Maharashtra (141), the health ministry said.
A study by researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur predicted that a third wave of the pandemic in India could peak by February 3, 2022.
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