UP Polls: Congress, BJP cancel rallies amid spike in Covid cases

There were speculations in the political circles that EC might announce the dates of the elections

As the cases of coronavirus infections registered a sharp spike in Uttar Pradesh, political parties have started cancelling their scheduled public meetings and other events in the poll-bound state.

While Congress has cancelled its 'Ladki Hoon Lad Sakti Hoon' marathons scheduled to be held in different parts of the state, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's proposed mega rally at Lucknow on Sunday was also cancelled, according to sources.

There were speculations in the political circles that the Election Commission (EC) might announce the dates of the elections in UP after the PM's Lucknow rally.

Also read: Congress postpones major rallies in poll-bound states amid Covid-19

BJP has also deferred its ambitious ''Beneficiary Contact'' program which was scheduled to start from Monday and conclude on Saturday. The saffron party had planned to reach out to the masses with the progress reports of the centre and the state government.

Sources said that UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's proposed public meeting at Noida on Thursday had also been cancelled.

UP Congress sources said that the grand old party had postponed all its big public events in the state in view of the rising cases of coronavirus infection. Congress had planned to organise seven 'women's marathons' across the state in the days to come. The party drew criticism from various quarters after a stampede-like situation in its women's marathon at Bareilly town on Tuesday.

Also read: PM Modi stuck on flyover, Ferozepur rally cancelled after security breach

Congress had written to the EC urging it to stop the rallies of Modi and Adityanath in the state keeping in view the spike in coronavirus cases.

A BJP leader here told DH that the party had made all preparations to reach out to the people through virtual rallies. "We are ready to hold virtual rallies... we have a team of trained party workers," said the leader.

Around 1,000 new coronavirus cases were reported in the state till Tuesday taking the total number of active cases to 3,173.

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