Elections Amid Coronavirus
All parties want polls on time with COVID protocol in place: Election Commission
New Delhi/IBNS: India's poll body (ECI) on Thursday said all political parties of Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state in the country, want the upcoming assembly elections to be held on time with COVID-19 protocols in place, media reports said.
Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra said the parties have raised the violation of COVID-19 norms in political rallies and demanded the curbs in place.
Chandra made the remark after a team of Election Commission of India (ECI) paid a visit to Uttar Pradesh, where frightening visuals of COVID-19 dead bodies emerged during the second wave earlier this year.
Days ago, the Allahabad High Court had requested the poll body and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is visiting Uttar Pradesh multiple times, to postpone the elections in view of the spread of COVID-19 and its new variant 'Omicron'.
Chandra said all frontline poll workers will be fully vaccinated and the polling time will be extended by an hour.
Along with Uttar Pradesh, polls in Goa, Manipur, Punjab and Uttarakhand are also due to be held early 2022.
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