Assembly polls are likely to be affected for the upcoming elections due to be held in Manipur, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, and Punjab in 2022. The Election Commissioner of India (ECI) will meet with the officials of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to decide on the upcoming elections due in the five states in the next few months. The decision to postpone the elections has come in the wake of the ongoing surge in the number of people affected by the latest variants called the Delta and the Omicron across the world.
The Allahabad High Court had earlier requested the Election Commission for the postponement of the upcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh for at least two months amidst the rising of cases of coronavirus. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ECI were also urged to put an instant ban on large gatherings including the rallies and public meetings of the parties that are being held in the state.
Rajesh Bhushan, Secretary of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, asked the states where elections are due in the next few months, to ramp up the vaccination drive especially in the low coverage areas to provide safeguard to the vulnerable people. Multidisciplinary teams have also been sent by the Union Health Ministry to Punjab and Uttar Pradesh to assess the current situation. These teams will provide for the possible remedies and will be responsible for sending a report every evening.
The Ministry stated that the teams will specifically look for contact tracing which will include containment operations and surveillance; COVID testing, sending the samples for genome sequencing; behavior appropriate to COVID-19; availability of hospital beds in the state along with ventilators and medical oxygen; and the vaccination progress in the assigned area.
Data available suggests that Omicron’s infection has already crossed the 500 mark and the number of recovered patients is more than 150. Around 77 new cases were reported yesterday in 19 states and union territories.
The Election Commission (EC) of India will most likely announce the dates for the upcoming election in the next month. The EC will seek Bhushan’s suggestions on how to improve the protocols for COVID-19 in poll campaigning, polling days, and the dates for counting.
New restrictions including night curfews and a ban on large gatherings have been put in place in the wake of the Omicron variant. The country is expecting a third wave of the deadly virus by January-February of 2022. Elections might get postponed to protect the people from getting infected and to halt the spread of Coronavirus.
