Explained: Election Commission's Covid-19 protocols on election rallies, roadshows

Citing the alarming surge in Covid-19 cases and Omicron scare, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on January 8 banned public rallies, roadshows and corner meetings till January 15 in the five states as it announced the schedule for the Assembly elections.

Also Read: Parties turn to virtual rallies amid Covid-19 spike

Issuing stringent safety guidelines, Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra said the ban on rallies will be reviewed on January 15.

What do the guidelines issued by ECI say?

- The ECI banned physical rallies, roadshows, padayatra, cycle-bike-vehicle rallies and processions by parties or probable candidates till January 15.

- Parties and candidates have been advised to conduct their campaigns on virtual and digital modes as much as possible.

- Only five people, including candidates but excluding security personnel, would be allowed for door-to-door campaigning.

- Physical rallies during the campaign period, as and when permitted after the decision of the Commission will be conducted subject to adherence to extant Covid-19 guidelines.

Also Read: Assembly Elections 2022: Full list of Covid-19 protocols

- There is also a decrease in the number of star campaigners for parties -- for national and state parties, it has been fixed 30 in place of 40 while it is 15 in place of 20 for unrecognised parties.

- Rallies and meetings will be allowed only in earmarked places and with prior permissions of district administration. Each party/candidate should give an undertaking in that it shall abide by all the extant instructions/guidelines in this regard.

- If a candidate or political party violates any of the above guidelines, no further permission shall be given to the concerned candidate/party for rallies, meetings etc.

- The convoy of vehicles shall be broken after every five vehicles and the interval between two sets of convoys of vehicles should be half an hour instead of a gap of 100 metres. During the permitted campaign period, convoy of vehicles will be allowed only for movement of vehicles from one point to another point for campaigning.

- The poll panel banned victory celebrations and only two persons will be allowed to accompany a candidate to collect the winning certificate.

Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa will be held between February 10 and March 7 in seven phases with the counting of votes on March 10. The elections have huge political significance with BJP ruling four of these five states, while it is making a big push to capture Congress-ruled Punjab, where the Aam Aadmi Party is also emerging as an important player.

(With DHNS/PTI inputs)

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