Assembly Election 2022: The EC in a series of tweets asked the political parties to adhere to the provisions of MCC and the broad guidelines related to coronavirus.
Assembly Election 2022: Keeping in mind the rising cases of Coronavirus in the country, the Election Commission on Saturday extended the ban on poll rallies and roadshows till January 22 in 5 states. Making the announcement, soon after holding the review meeting, the EC said that the political parties are allowed to hold indoor meetings with a maximum of 300 persons or 50% of the capacity of the hall.
The EC in a series of tweets asked the political parties to adhere to the provisions of MCC and the broad guidelines related to coronavirus. Moreover, the EC also asked the State/ District administrations to ensure compliance of all instructions related to MCC and COVID guidelines.
The directions came after the Election Commission met earlier in the day to decide if the ban imposed by it on public rallies and road shows should continue.
While announcing the poll schedule for Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab and Manipur on January 8, the poll panel had taken an unprecedented step by banning public rallies, road shows and similar physical campaigning events till January 15 in view of rising COVID-19 cases.
The EC had said that it will be holding meetings with Union health secretary and chief secretaries of the five poll-bound states to decide on “any relaxation” on public rallies, according to the sources aware of the review meetings.
The EC had on January 8 also listed out 16-point guidelines for campaigning as it banned ‘nukkad sabhas’ (corner meetings) on public roads and roundabouts, limited the number of persons allowed for door-to-door campaign to five, including the candidate, and prohibited victory processions after the counting on votes.
The EC had said after considering the ongoing pandemic and enhanced relevance of non-contact based campaign decided to double the broadcast/telecast time allotted to each national party and recognised state party of the five states.
