Postpone UP Assembly polls, ban rallies, Allahabad High Court urges PM and EC

The Allahabad High Court headed by Justice Shekhar Yadav urged the Election Commission to postpone the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls scheduled early next month, amid the surge in Omicron and Covid-219 cases. It also urged the Prime Minister to ban rallies and campaigns, as Covid protocols cannot be possibly followed in this sort of events.

Prayagraj: Amid the continuous surge in the Omicron cases in most parts of the country, the Allahabad High Court on Thursday requested the Election 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.

The court further urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Election Commission to immediately ban rallies and public meetings of political parties in the state. It suggested that the political campaigns may be continued virtually through TV and newspapers, as it is very difficult to follow the Covid protocols when all the political parties' election preparations are seemingly in full swing.

"If rallies are not stopped, results will be worse than the second wave," Justice Shekhar Yadav said, emphasising on "Jaan hai toh Jahaan hai (if there is life, we have the world)."

Justice Shekhar clarified that the cases in the second wave were amplified by lakhs after people carelessly conducted social gatherings. In fact, the Gram Panchayat elections and the Bengal Assembly polls have also contributed to a surge in the cases, he added. Considering that the UP elections are not far away while the Covid situation is taking a steep turn, postponing the elections to avoid crowds would be a wise decision, he said.

The Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh are scheduled early next year. According to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, 236 cases of Omicron variant have been reported in the country so far with 16 states and UTs infected by the new variant.

Maharashtra topped the list with 65 confirmed cases of the Omicron strain followed by Delhi with 64 cases and Telangana with 24 cases. Of the 213 cases, 104 patients have recovered from the virus.

Meanwhile, Union Health Ministry on Tuesday also alerted States and Union Territories about the new Covid variant and said that based on current scientific evidence, Omicron is at least three times more transmissible than the Delta variant.

The ministry further added that greater foresight, data analysis, dynamic decision making and strict and prompt containment action are required at the local and district level.