After nearly a month inconclusive, the Election Commission of India finally banned all roadshows and large public gatherings in West Bengal earlier this year, when the second wave of Covid-19 hit India. With the rapid spread of the Omicron version, such restrictions should be in place in the upcoming five state elections as well.
Sample this: The time period for the Election Commission to issue a “stern warning” about a ban on rallies, between April 9 and 22, if the Covid-19 norms were not followed and when it finally decided to go ahead with the West Bengal elections. For the last two phases, active cases in the state tripled to 69,000, test positivity rates more than doubled from 10 percent to more than 22 percent, and daily cases tripled from 3,600 to 12,000.
The Election Commission finally said that it “sees with anguish that several political parties/candidates are not adhering to the prescribed safety norms during public gatherings” to bring about a complete ban. Three Kovid candidates had died during the West Bengal elections.
These hard facts are before the Election Commission as it prepares to announce election schedules for five states early next month, including Uttar Pradesh, which saw massive election rallies and election tours by the BJP and the Samajwadi Party. are going Huge crowd is gathering in all these rallies.
By all accounts, voting is not being postponed and will take place in February-March as scheduled. This is also the time when Omicron cases are expected to peak in India.
pass deer game
First, let us explain what has happened so far, although the authorities have kept their silence on the issue. Several states have imposed night curfews, a “soft lockdown” was introduced in Delhi on Tuesday and Punjab banned the entry of non-vaccinated people in public places.
On 21 December, the health ministry issued guidelines to all states in the wake of Omicron, calling for “strict regulation of large gatherings”. When asked about the ongoing rallies and election meetings in Uttar Pradesh, on December 24, Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan pointed to the same guidelines.
Obviously, no election state like UP is following these guidelines, as top BJP leaders are in full campaign mode and Akhilesh Yadav continues his election journey.
While the Center is putting the burden on the states, it has said that there were no guidelines from the Election Commission to regulate the election campaign. The Election Commission said its role begins only when the Model Code of Conduct comes into force, which will be from the day it announces the election schedule.
So far, the Election Commission has met health ministry officials on the omicron situation and was told that the second dose vaccination coverage in Uttar Pradesh is well below the national average of 62 per cent.
ball in EC court
So will the Election Commission follow the normal course of issuing guidelines for social distancing norms during rallies and gatherings first, when it announces the election dates for the five states? The experience of West Bengal shows that this approach had no effect then, even after issuing dire warnings and discontinuing campaigning in the evening.
Finally, the Election Commission had to ban all road shows and public meetings of more than 500 people in West Bengal for the last two phases of elections.
It would be prudent for the Election Commission to impose such restrictions in the upcoming elections from the very beginning so that people are not exposed to Omicron, even as the cases of COVID are increasing across India. People cannot be expected to observe night curfew, and then barred from going to cinema halls, gyms and spas, while political parties are given complete freedom to attend large gatherings during the day.
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