At least 26 teachers, who were on poll duty in Madhya Pradesh, die of Covid-19

The state government is paying compensation to election workers who died due to Covid-19 in that period

At least 26 teachers, on duty for the Madhya Pradesh bypoll election, have died after contracting Covid-19, according to state president of the Madhya Pradesh Government Teachers Association (GTA).

“There was a three-day training programme for teachers, which was attended by hundreds. Many had contracted the virus from there. We found that at least 26 teachers died of Covid after being involved in election-related duty. But initially, the state only recognised six. Now they are looking at others who contracted the virus through this training,” said Aarif Anjum, state president of Madhya Pradesh GTA to The Indian Express.

According to Madhya Pradesh’s Covid-19 bulletin, only 20 deaths in April and only three deaths until May 17 were reported in Damoh.

Congress’ Damoh district chief, Manu Mishra, was hospitalised with his wife and son during the election campaign due to Covid-19. He has questioned the official numbers and is working on compiling the list of Congress workers who died during the bypoll elections. He said, “At least 17 party workers have died in one block. We will get the complete list in a few days.”

Meanwhile, the government is paying compensation to election workers who died due to Covid-19 in that period. District Collector Krishna Chaitanya told the publication, “We have so far received applications of 24 teachers who have prima facie succumbed to Covid after being put on election duty. Of these, six were actively involved while others were engaged in affiliated work. So far, we have recognised 17 teachers to have succumbed to the virus. We are verifying the other applications to be sent to the Election Commission for compensation.”

The lockdown curbs were imposed in Damoh only on April 19, two days after voting, while the entire state shut down from April 7.

In the heated election campaigning, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and state Congress chief Nath, and several leaders like Jyotraditya Scindia, Digvijaya Singh, Uma Bharti and Union MoS Prahlad Singh Patel held roadshows, public gatherings and rallies.

Damoh district reported 11 new cases and 116 active cases with total of 3,100 cases and 93 deaths. The total cases reported from the district rose to 3,774 on April 16. And as of May 19, Damoh has 1,375 active cases and a total of 7,465 cases and 130 deaths untill now.