Close on the heels of the decline in the number of fresh cases of COVID 19, the district administration has relaxed the restrictions on campaigning for the urban local bodies elections.
The State Election Commission had banned rallies and public meetings until February 11 in view of the rise in the number of cases. In accordance with the directions, candidates and political parties were not permitted to organise public meetings. They were allowed to conduct indoor meetings with the maximum participation of 100 members. However, considering the decline in the number of new cases over the last few days, the SEC is said to have permitted the parties to organise meetings.
Collector S. Sivarasu said that the restrictions on organising open public meetings had been withdrawn. They could organise meetings with the participation of 1,000 spectators. As far as indoor meetings were concerned, 50 % of seats could be occupied. The parties had to get permission from the concerned election officials for organising campaign meetings.
He said that the process of 2nd phase of randomisation of electronic voting machines had been conducted in the presence of the representatives of political parties. One more randomization exercise would be conducted on Wednesday. Based on the results, the EVMs would be allotted to the polling stations. Candidate settings would also be done in the presence of the political parties.
Mr. Sivarasu said that out of 5,200 eligible persons for exercising postal voters in the district, ballot papers had been served to about 3,500 voters, who resided in urban areas. About 2,500 postal voters had submitted their papers.
He said that there was no bar for the candidates to carry out campaigns on social media platforms. However, they should not violate the restrictions imposed by the State Election Commission.