Election Commission extends ban on public rallies till 31 January

Ahead of the Assembly Elections in five states, Election Commission of India has decided to extend the ban imposed on public rallies and roadshows till 31 January. The poll body also announced relaxation for physical public meetings of parties or candidates for Phase 1, allowed from January 28, and for Phase 2 from February 1.

New Delhi: Ahead of the Assembly Elections in five states, the Election Commission of India has decided to extend the ban imposed on physical rallies and roadshows till 31 January. The poll body has also announced its decision to increase the limit for door-to-door campaigning by 10 persons from its earlier decision of 5.

Additionally, the Commission has allowed video vans for publicity with usual Covid-19 restrictions at the designated open spaces with a maximum of 500 viewers of 50% of the capacity as set by state disaster management authority (SDMA). The poll body also announced relaxation for physical public meetings of political parties or contesting candidates for Phase 1, allowed from January 28, and for Phase 2 from February 1.

The poll body on Saturday held a series of virtual meets with the Union Health Secretary and the Chief Health Secretaries of the five poll-bound states to decide whether the ban imposed by it on physical rallies and roadshows to contain the spread of Omicron should continue, and it was decided in unison that as there is no major improvement in the COVID situation in the country, the ban should continue till 31 January.

India has reported 3,37,704 fresh COVID cases (9,550 more than yesterday), 2,42,676 recoveries and 488 deaths in the last 24 hours. There are a total of 21,13,365 active cases in the country with a daily positivity rate of 17.22 per cent.

On January 15, the poll watchdog had announced restrictions on holding big political rallies till January 22 amid a huge spike in the Omicron cases. It had, however, granted a relaxation for political parties to hold indoor meetings for a maximum of 300 people or 50 per cent of the capacity of the hall.

Assembly polls will be held in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur between February 10 and March 7. The results of these elections would be announced on March 10. All victory celebrations have been banned by the poll body in order to contain the spread of Omicron.