EC extends ban on rallies and roadshows in poll-bound states till Jan 22

Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday extended the ban on physical political rallies and roadshows in poll-bound states till January 22 as the country continues to grapple with rise in coronavirus cases.

However, ECI granted relaxation for the political parties to the extent that indoor meetings of maximum of 300 persons or 50% of the capacity of the hall or the prescribed limit set by state disaster management authorities.

On Twitter, ECI also directed political parties to adhere to the provisions of model code of conduct and the broad guidelines of Covid. 

ECI directed state/ district administration to ensure compliance of all instructions related to model code of conduct and Covid.

While announcing the poll schedule for Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab and Manipur on January 8, the poll panel had taken an unprecedented step by banning public rallies, road shows and similar physical campaigning events till January 15 in view of rising COVID-19 cases.

The poll watchdog on Saturday held meetings with Union health secretary and chief secretaries of the five poll-bound states to decide on any relaxation on public rallies.

During the meeting, the Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra along with Election Commissioners Rajiv Kumar and Anup Chandra Pandey accompanied by Secretary General and concerned Deputy Election Commissioners held a comprehensive review of present status and projected trends of COVID pandemic with special focus in the five poll going states. Vaccination status and action plan for expeditiously completing vaccination for first, second and booster dose for eligible persons amongst frontline workers and polling personnel was also reviewed.

On January 8, the Commission had also listed out 16-point guidelines for campaigning as it banned 'nukkad sabhas' (corner meetings) on public roads and roundabouts, limited the number of persons allowed for door-to-door campaign to five, including the candidate, and prohibited victory processions after the counting on votes.

Separately, in a press release on Friday, the Election Commission said on considering the ongoing pandemic and enhanced relevance of non-contact based campaign, it had, in consultation with Prasar Bharti Corporation decided to double the broadcast/telecast time allotted to each national party and recognised state party of the five states.

India registered 268,833 new Covid infections in a day taking the tally to 3,68,50,962, which includes 6,041 Omicron variant cases, according to the Union Health Ministry data on Saturday.

With 402 more deaths, the number of people who have succumbed to the viral disease has risen to 485,752. The case fatality rate was 1.32 per cent.

A total of 6,041 Omicron cases has been detected so far, an increase of 5.01 per cent since Friday, the data updated showed.

The daily positivity rate was 16.66 per cent while the weekly positivity rate was 12.84 per cent.

Active cases have increased to 14,17,820, the highest in around 223 days, and comprise 3.85 per cent of the total infections. The national COVID-19 recovery rate has decreased to 94.83 per cent, the Health Ministry said.