Assam DGP asks political parties to follow Election Commission’s guidelines

GUWAHATI: Assam DGP Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta, a day ahead of the counting of votes, urged all leaders and members of political parties to adhere to the Election Commission guidelines regarding ban on celebrations and victory march on Sunday.
As Assam grapples a second wave of the pandemic with over 3,000 new cases being added every day, the state government has banned victory rallies across the state on Sunday, during the whole day on Sunday, when results of the assembly elections will be declared.
The state government has released two separate notifications in this regard. The night curfew across the state remains in place.
“At this critical hour, saving society and the people from this cruel surge of Covid-19 ought to be our top priority,” the DGP said, reviewing the arrangements for the counting day for the assembly election, following all norms spelt out by the EC.
Under the supervision of the DGP, a discussion on the issues pertaining to the enforcement of Covid protocols for public safety was held at the office of the police commissioner here on Saturday.
“Discussed issues pertaining to enforcement of #CovidProtocols for public safety in the office of Police Commissioner, Guwahati. Aso reviewed the arrangements for Counting Day for the Assembly election, following all norms spelt out by the @ECISVEEP,” DGP Assam tweeted.
Following the meeting, a video conference with SSP and SDPOs of all the districts was held regarding the arrangements for conducting a safe and peaceful counting on Sunday.
A Covid compliant road map was shared with all the district SSP during the conference, the Assam DGP said in a tweet.
Special DGP GP Singh on Saturday said, “Assam Police is ready to assist counting of votes tomorrow and implement CoVid protocols. No victory procession, no gathering outside counting centres, no celebratory bursting of crackers. Please cooperate with us else action would be taken as per law.”
“Any victory procession or assembly at any public place during and after the counting on 02.05.2021 is prohibited,” the notification released by the government said. It has specified that the winning candidate will only be accompanied by two persons while bursting of of firecrackers and usage of loudspeakers have been prohibited.