EC holds meet with Health Ministry officials to discuss upcoming Assembly polls amid COVID

Amid the rising concern over COVID-19, the Election Commission of India (ECI) convened a meeting with senior officials of the Union Health Ministry to discuss the ongoing coronavirus situation in five states that are going into polls next year. According to ECI sources, the Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan was also present at the meeting that took place on Monday. Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Uttarakhand, Goa, and Punjab are all set to go into assembly elections next year.

“The Election Commission of India will convene a meeting on December 27 at 11 am with senior officials of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare including Secretary Rajesh Bhushan. The meeting will discuss the prevailing COVID19 situation for upcoming Assembly elections in five states,” highly placed sources close to ANI said.

Allahabad HC requests PM Modi to delay UP polls

The meeting comes after the Allahabad High Court on Thursday made a request to the ECI to immediately postpone the upcoming Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh. The court requested to further push the polls for 1-2 months considering the newly spreading COVID variant Omicron scare. The court also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ECI to ban all rallies and public meetings of political parties in the state with immediate effect.

Dealing with a bail order, the Allahabad HC bench headed by Justice Shekhar Yadav urged the Election Commission to immediately issue direction to stop political parties from organising political rallies in the state. Appealing to the election body and PM Modi, Justice Yadav suggested that the polls be delayed for another few months saying, "jaan hai toh jahaan hai (if there was life, hope would remain)."

On a side note, the court also lauded India's mass vaccination campaign and praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for providing free coronavirus vaccination to the people of the country.

COVID situation in India

India on Sunday reported 6,987 fresh COVID-19 cases. As per the Union Health Ministry report, the total death toll rose to 4,79,682 with 162 fresh fatalities reported. The Omicron tally across the nation crossed the 400-mark with a total of 17 States reporting cases of the new variant. The variant which was first found in South Africa is spreading fast with Delhi and Maharashtra marking high number of cases.

Image: PTI/ PIXABAY