Election Commission Chief Sushil Chandra & team to visit Uttar Pradesh to check poll preps

Ahead of Uttar Pradesh General Assembly elections scheduled for February to March in 2022 to elect 403 members, an Election Commission (EC) delegation led by EC Chief Sushil Chandra will begin a three-day tour from Tuesday, December 29. The itinerary includes meeting with all leaders of all national and regional parties in Lucknow. The delegation is set to meet officials of UP Police and central security forces too to assess the law and order situation during and after UP Polls.

On December 29, the delegation will hold a review meeting with all district returning officers, police chiefs and IGs. On the last day, the panel will hold talks with the Chief Secretary and the Director-General of Police.

General assembly elections amid Omicron scare

Assembly Elections are slated to be held in five states including Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Manipur and Punjab next year. Amid rising Omicron cases in the country, the Allahabad High Court on Thursday urged the Election Commission to notify the postponement of polls in Uttar Pradesh for 1-2 months. It further urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the EC to ban rallies and public meetings of political parties in the state. 

On December 24, while addressing the media, Chandra assured that the EC will take all possible steps to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus amid the Omicron threat. 

CEC Sushil Chandra remarked, "Today morning, I asked the Chief Secretary as to how many Omicron cases have been detected in this state. I was told that only one case has been detected in this state till now. I also told you the steps being taken by the Commission to manage COVID-19. We will take a constitutional position and take action when required."

"We also want to assure you that we have told the SDMs who will conduct an immediate inspection to ensure that nothing happens. We will take whatever action that is required. After Uttarakhand, we are going to Uttar Pradesh next week. We will review the situation there. After that, we will take an appropriate decision in the Commission," he added. 

Election Commission asks for maximum COVID vaccinations in poll-bound States

The EC has directed the Union Health Ministry to complete the COVID-19 vaccination in the five poll-bound states. The EC has also sought information from the health ministry regarding the status of vaccination in the five electoral states, especially regarding the first dose, sources told Republic Media Network.

In response, the Health ministry informed details of the COVID-19 inoculation drive. "About 100% first dose was reported in Uttarakhand and Goa, 85% first dose in UP and less than 80% first dose in Manipur and Punjab," it said.

It also instructed officials to speed up the vaccination in Uttar Pradesh, Manipur and Punjab. The Election Commission has directed poll-bound states to do maximum vaccination to contain the spread of COVID-19 and its Omicron variant.

As per the latest Union health ministry update, India reported 578 cases of Variant of Concern (VoC) Omicron. In the poll-bound states, Uttar Pradesh has two cases and Goa and Uttarakhand have one each respectively while the country witnessed the highest one-day surge with 135 cases.