All parties want assembly polls on time: Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra – Times of India
LUCKNOW: The Election Commission of India (ECI), after holding a series of meetings with political parties and senior state and district-level officials, said that “all political parties want assembly polls in five states (Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Goa, and Punjab) to be held on time” amid strict Covid protocols, reports Arvind Chauhan.
The EC has also decided to extend polling by one hour since Covid protocol will slow down voting. Further, to ensure that even a corona-infected voter can vote, EC staff in PPE kits will go to them, CEC Sushil Chandra said.
Fully jabbed poll staff to be frontline workers
Addressing a press conference on Thursday, Chandra said, “Some parties expressed concern on public rallies being held without strict Covid protocol compliance and demanded relocation of polling booths from densely populated areas to avoid mass gatherings amid a pandemic.”
Commenting on public rallies, the CEC said, “We have spoken to the Union health secretary and chief secretary of UP on the Covid issue. Since it’s a dynamic situation, with the number of cases continuing to rise and fall, we would consider all aspects — and a decision on allowing public rallies or implementing digital addresses would be taken prior to the announcement of election dates.”
“If necessary ECI will take appropriate action after implementation of the model code of conduct. Currently, 49% of those eligible in Uttar Pradesh have been given both doses. The state administration has assured that they would give at least one dose to all eligible persons in the next 15-20 days,” Chandra said.
Election staff would be declared frontline workers and only the fully vaccinated would be assigned election duty. Strict adherence to Covid protocol would be followed during polling.
The number of voters per booth has been decreased from 1,500 to 1,250 to prevent overcrowding amid the pandemic scare.
The ECI will set up 1,74,351 polling booths in 11,000 polling stations across the state to facilitate Covid protocol compliance.
As per ECI data, 15.02 crore voters are expected to vote in the state polls after a record registration of new voters. Over 52.8 lakh new voters have registered, including 23.92 males and 28.86 lakh females.
“The gender ratio has improved by 11 points, from 857 against 1,000 male voters to 868 now,” said Chandra.
There are 10,64,266 physically challenged voters and 24,03,296 voters above 80 years.
“The voter turnout in the last assembly election was 61%, and it was 59% in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. In case any physically challenged or above-80-years voters don’t wish to visit a polling booth, the ECI could go to them and let them cast their vote in secrecy. The names of such voters would be shared with political parties and videography of voting would …….