Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh): Election Commission of India (ECI) has given a green signal to conducting Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh despite a Covid-19 resurgence.
Addressing the media at the end of his three-day visit, the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sushil Chandra said: "Representatives of all the political parties met us and told us that elections should be conducted on time following all COVID19 protocols."
He said that Uttar Pradesh now has 52.08 lakh new voters who will exercise their franchise in the upcoming assembly elections.
"The final voter-list will be released on January 5, 2022," he added.
"In view of the increase in the number of voters and also the prevailing pandemic condition, we have decided to set up 11,000 more polling booths to ensure that there is no crowding. With this, there will also be an increase in the number of polling personnel. We are also increasing the polling time by one hour across the state to prevent crowding at polling stations," he said.
The number of voters per polling booth has been reduced to 1,250 instead of the earlier 1,500 to ensure social distancing, he said.
"We will ensure that we reach the doorsteps of people above 80 years of age, persons with disabilities, and COVID affected who are unable to come to the polling booth," the CEC said.
He added that the staff deployed at the voting booths across the state will be fully vaccinated.
Voting during the Assembly elections, Chandra said, will be held from 8 am to 6 pm on the date of polling.
The CEC, Election Commissioners Rajiv Kumar and Anup Chandra Pandey, along with other senior officers of the Commission, were on a three-day visit to Uttar Pradesh to review the preparations for the Assembly elections. The team had several meetings with the officials as well as the political parties in the state.
The review visit came after the Allahabad High Court on December 24 requested the Commission to immediately postpone the Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh in order to avoid the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. It suggested the postponement of at least one to two months.
Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Uttarakhand, Goa, and Punjab in 2022. Dates could be announced in the first week of January.
Read: Assembly elections: EC, health ministry discuss Omicron scenario, next meeting in Jan
