UP govt offers Rs 30 lakh ex-gratia to kin of 135 polling staff who died due to COVID

In a major relief for polls workers' families who succumbed to COVID, the Uttar Pradesh govt announced a compensation of Rs 30 lakhs on Thursday. The Allahabad HC which has taken cognizance of 135 polling officers' death was informed of the decision by the UP govt. The HC had issued a notice to the Yogi govt after 135 Teachers, Shiksha Mitras and Investigators had succumbed to COVID while on poll duty for the recently concluded Panchayat polls.

Yogi govt announces Rs 30 lakh compensation for victims

Issuing a show-cause notice to Uttar Pradesh EC, the Allahabad HC asked the poll body to explain why it failed to enforce Coronavirus protocols during Panchayat elections and prosecute those responsible for such violations. “It appears that neither the police nor Election Commission did anything to save the people on election duty from getting infected by the deadly virus,” the order said. The HC warned the govt, "We will not tolerate any paperwork or public announcements to show account of the steps taken as it is now an open secret that the government had gone complacent due to weakening of virus impact by the end of 2020 in the state and the government got more involved in other activities, including Panchayat elections.”

700 school staff died due to COVID

The biggest tragedy in UP amid COVID has been the death of 700 school staff who died due to COVID while on poll duty for UP Panchayat polls. As per reports,  the Uttar Pradeshiya Prathmik Shikshak Sangh has written to UP CM Adityanath and SEC, listing names of all the deceased who died due to contracting COVID-19 on poll duty, demanding to defer counting on May 2. The Allahabad High Court had pulled up the Yogi govt over the deaths asking why action should not be taken against it for not enforcing Covid protocols. In reply, the state government has denied the allegations and said it has no proof that the teachers died during poll duty and maintained that it did not want to hold the panchayat elections, but was forced to conduct it before 30 April due to an HC order.

Counting was not deferred and BJP managed to win 900 of the 3030 Zila panchayat wards it contested, while SP claims to have won 1000 seats, BSP 300 seats, Congress and AAP bagged 70 seats each. This setback to BJP comes a year before the crucial UP polls - where Yogi Adityanath is eyeing a second term. Over 8.69 lakh posts were up for grabs in these polls. Of these posts, more than 7.32 lakh seats were in the gram panchayat wards, 58,176 in the gram panchayats, 75,852 in the kshetra (block) panchayats and 3,050 in the zila panchayats. In all, there were over 12.89 lakh candidates in the poll fray, of which 3.19 lakh candidates won unopposed.