EC meets physically for the first time in three months

A meeting of the "full commission" -- the chief election commissioner and two election commissioners -- took place at the Nirvachan Sadan here on Monday for the first time in nearly three months.

The poll panel had been holding virtual meets as Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora, who was visiting the United States on leave in the first half of March, got stranded there due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

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Arora returned to India recently and underwent the mandatory quarantine before joining office on Monday.

A key decision taken in one such virtual meeting was to allow the legislative council election in Maharashtra to pave the way for Uddhav Thackeray becoming a member of the state legislature within the stipulated six months of becoming chief minister.

The polls were deferred due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Other senior officers of the poll panel were present in Monday's meeting, a spokesperson said, sharing pictures of it on Twitter.