Elections amid Omicron scare: ECI team to review preparedness in UP

The Election Commission of India will be on a three-day visit to the poll-bound state of Uttar Pradesh from Tuesday to take stock of the poll preparedness. The visit comes after the Allahabad High Court on Thursday had requested the Election Commission of India to immediately postpone the Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh for 1-2 months given the Omicron scare in the country.

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh): A team of the Election Commission of India (ECI) will be on a three-day visit to the poll-bound state of Uttar Pradesh from Tuesday to take stock of the poll preparedness ahead of the State Assembly elections in 2022.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sushil Chandra, Election Commissioners Rajiv Kumar and Anup Chandra Pandey, along with other senior officers of the Commission, will review the preparations for the Assembly elections in several meetings with the officials as well as the political parties in the state.

A meeting with Chief Electoral Officer (Uttar Pradesh) Ajay Kumar Shukla, state police and central paramilitary forces nodal officers is also on the cards.

On Wednesday, the ECI will hold a meeting with divisional commissioners, district electoral officers, commissioners of police, inspectors general of police (zone) and superintendents of police of all 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh to discuss the preparedness level for the elections.

On Thursday, the poll panel will hold a meeting with the Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police of the state and will later address a press conference.

The visit comes after the Allahabad High Court on Thursday had requested the Election Commission of India to immediately postpone the Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh for 1-2 months given the Omicron scare in the country.

The court also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ECI to immediately ban rallies and public meetings of political parties in the state.