New Delhi: A meeting between the Election Commission of India (ECI) and senior officials of the Health Ministry ended on Monday recommending no coercive action for the five electoral states amid the rise of omicron-type cases in India. It has been informed that, ECI and Health Ministry will hold another round of meeting in January 2022 to iron out the details and take stock of the COVID situation.
In today’s meeting, the ECI and the Union Health Ministry discussed the increasing number of Kovid-19.omicron) cases and vaccine coverage across India, especially in states with assembly elections next year.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan briefed the Election Commission and other senior officials about the current COVID situation in 5 states, where assembly elections are due early next year.
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Ahead of the meeting between the Election Commission and the Union Health Ministry, there was a lot of commotion and speculation intensified as some sections expected postponement of the assembly elections to 2022 or restrictions on election rallies amid fears of postponement.
The term of Goa, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Manipur assemblies is set to end in March and in Uttar Pradesh in May. The ECI has to announce the election dates in these states.
Meanwhile, the Allahabad HC held a meeting even after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ECI requested to postpone the elections in Uttar Pradesh by a month or two to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and its new variant, Omicron.
The Allahabad HC had also urged a ban on political rallies and public meetings during the election campaign. Justice Shekhar Yadav, while making his remarks, had said, “If the rallies are not stopped, the consequences will be worse than the second wave.”
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