Will take call on holding UP polls next week, says CEC Sushil Chandra

“Next week, we will go to Uttar Pradesh and review the situation there. Then take an appropriate decision,” CEC Sushil Chandra said at a press conference in Dehradun during a two-day visit to Uttarakhand to review the preparations for the Assembly elections in the state.

When asked about the Allahabad High Court’s request, Chandra said he had been informed that Uttarakhand had one case of Omicron so far. He reiterated the EC’s measures for making elections Covid-safe and said the Commission would take action as per the Constitution and the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

On Thursday, the Allahabad High Court urged the Prime Minister to “take strong steps” and consider “stopping and postponing” rallies, meetings and elections.

Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav, while urging the Registrar General of the Allahabad High Court to frame rules to deal with the situation, said in his order: “Today again, elections to the Vidhan Sabha in UP are near, for which parties are holding rallies and meetings and gathering crowds of lakhs. It is not possible to observe Covid protocol in these programmes. If this is not stopped in time, then the result will be more frightening than the second wave.”

The Commission is currently visiting all poll-bound states ahead of the scheduled assembly elections. It is customary for the Commission to visit poll-bound states ahead of announcing their dates. The Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra, and Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey and Rajiv Kumar have already visited the poll-bound states of Punjab, Goa and Uttarakhand and are scheduled to visit, Uttar Pradesh and Manipur next.

Chandra, during his review visit to Goa said the Election Commission is ready to hold the elections in Goa (and by extension, the other states going to polls around the same time), despite the looming threat of another wave of the coronavirus disease pandemic, but emphasized that local election officials have been empowered to ensure strict adherence to Covid protocols during campaigning, and that the polling itself will also be held with adequate precautions.

The current term of the legislative assemblies of Goa, Manipur, Punjab and Uttarakhand are coming to an end in March 2022, while the term of the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly is scheduled to end in May.

The Election Commission (EC) is mandated under law to hold elections at any time within six months before the five-year term of the Lok Sabha or Legislative Assembly expires.

The polls are usually timed in a way that the new Assembly or Lok Sabha is in place on the day of the dissolution of the outgoing House.