Polling hours for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections have been extended to maintain the COVID protocol as the number of cases fueled by Omicron has seen a recent surge.
Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra said on Thursday that polling will be held from 8 am to 6 pm on the date of polling. Sixty-one per cent voter turnout was recorded in the 2017 UP assembly elections. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the voter turnout in UP was 59 per cent. It is a matter of concern as to why the polling percentage is low in a state where political awareness is high among the people.
Chandra further said that VVPATs will be installed at all polling stations and live webcasting facility will be available at around one lakh polling stations to ensure transparency in the election process.
The decision was taken after the representatives of all the political parties approached the Election Commission and said that they are not in favor of the elections or postponing the elections. The CEC said that the final voter list will be released on January 5, 2022.
The term of the Goa, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Manipur assemblies ends in March next year on different dates, while in Uttar Pradesh the term of the assembly will end in May.
The commission may also seek suggestions from Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan to improve its COVID-19 protocol for campaigning, polling days and counting dates. Bhushan on Thursday wrote to eight states and union territories, which are reporting that the number of COVID and omicron cases has increased. States have been told that there has been a jump in tally and dabbling time has come down.
Last week, the Chief Election Commissioner and fellow election commissioners visited Uttar Pradesh to take stock of the election preparedness in the state. The commission had earlier visited Punjab, Goa and Uttarakhand as part of its pre-poll stock-taking exercise.
(details awaited)
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