UP polls must be delinked from Goa, Punjab & others: All India Bar Association to ECI

With less time left for the upcoming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, the All India Bar Association (AIBA) has requested the Election Commission of India to delink the Assembly process of Uttar Pradesh from those of the four other states that are all set to go into polls in a short time.

This came in the view of the 51-day gap between Uttar Pradesh and the other four states to go into elections in the pandemic situation. While the elected tenure of Goa, Manipur, Punjab, and, Uttarakhand is slated to end in March, the Uttar Pradesh assembly's term runs until May 2022.  

Writing to the Election Commission, All India Bar Association chairman and senior advocate Adish C Aggarwala, while making his appeal to the poll body also appealed for a proper comprehensive ban to be imposed on physical political rallies and roadshows as necessary COVID-19 protocols are not being followed by the political parties and the participating public. 

Calling the situation as 'India's worst human and sociological tragedy', the AIBA chairman said that the devastation caused by the second wave of COVID-19 was due to public negligence during the Assembly elections in Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal and a similar kind of situation can arise in other states as well.

Also referring to an identical situation that arose during elections to Assemblies of Haryana, Maharashtra, and Jharkhand during the 2019 Assembly elections, he noted that the election commission delinked the poll procedure. While Haryana and Maharashtra elections were conducted through a common election schedule, elections for Jharkhand were scheduled separately.

Also adding certain suggestions concerning elections, Aggarwala also assured that none of the suggestions will infringe the constitutional mandate of either the Election Commission of India or the state of Uttar Pradesh.

India COVID-19

While India continues to battle the surge of COVID-19 cases triggered by the new variant Omicron, the Union Health Ministry is holding meetings with the ECI to review the pandemic situation in the country, especially in the poll-bound states. Also, discussions on carrying out proper safety measures during elections are also being discussed.

Image: PTI