EC opens up physical campaigning for polls

However, the ban on roadshows and processions continue to be in place

Candidates and political parties in the five poll-bound states will now be allowed to hold public meetings in open spaces with audience filling up to 30 per cent of the capacity of the ground.

The Election Commission on Sunday further eased the restrictions it had imposed on January 8 on poll campaigning in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur.

The restrictions regarding outdoor meeting and indoor meetings or rallies will be further relaxed subject to condition that the number of persons attending the meetings or rallies will be limited to maximum of 50 per cent of the capacity of indoor halls and 30 per cent of the open ground capacity or as fixed by the District Election Officers as per requirement of the social distancing norms and whichever is less, the EC stated.

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The poll-panel however decided to continue with the ban it had imposed on road-shows, padayatras as well as cycle, bike or vehicle rallies in view of the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The EC also decided to continue with the restriction that a candidate or a leader of a political party would not be allowed to take more than 20 people during door-to-door campaigning.

The Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra and the Election Commissioners, Rajiv Kumar and Anup Chandra Pandey, reviewed the Covid-19 situation in the poll-bound states.

The commission assessed the present status and projected trends of the Covid-19 pandemic in the five states. They also reviewed the status of vaccination and the action plan for expeditiously completing vaccination of the frontline workers and the polling personnel with the two doses of the anti-Covid-19 vaccines as well as of the senior citizens with the first, second and the booster doses.

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The commission had banned physical rallies and road shows for a week when it had announced the schedule of the assembly elections in the five states on January 8 last – in view of the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. It, however, reviewed the situation on January 15, January 22 and January 31 and gradually eased the restrictions imposed on electioneering.

The EC on Sunday stated that if the State Disaster Management Authority in a state had set the ceiling limits or percentage of the capacity for number of persons attending indoor hall or open ground and they were stricter, that guidelines would prevail. “Open ground rallies can be held only in the grounds specifically designated by the district authorities and subject to compliance of all the conditions of the SDMA, it added.

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