Omicron, looming third wave: EC panel to visit UP to review preparedness ahead of polls

A team of Election Commission officials, including chief election commissioner Sushil Chandra, will visit Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday to take stock of the preparedness ahead of assembly elections in the state scheduled to be held next year.

The three-day visit is part of the pre-poll stock-taking exercise by the Election Commission in view of the Omicron outbreak and a looming threat of the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. The commission has already Punjab, Goa and Uttarakhand as part of its exercise.

This comes after the Allahabad high court last Thursday urged the government and the poll panel to consider postponing the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections for a month or two amid fears of the Covid-19 third wave. The bench has also suggested banning all political rallies to avoid crowding.

Last Friday, CEC Sushil Chandra said that EC would be visiting Uttar Pradesh soon and "an appropriate decision as required by the situation will be taken after we review it."

The EC is expected to announce election dates next month.

The Uttar Pradesh assembly's term will end in May next year, while the terms of Goa, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Manipur legislative assemblies are ending on different dates in March.

On Monday, the poll panel held a meeting with the Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan and asked the government to expedite the Covid-19 vaccination programme in five poll-bound states.

The commission also noted that the percentage of those administered the first dose of coronavirus vaccine was still less in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Manipur, while it was nearing 100 per cent in Uttarakhand and Goa.

The commission also held a separate meeting with enforcement agencies and central forces and asked the top brass of the Narcotics Control Bureau to check the influence in elections. The commission "in particular" referred to Punjab and Goa with regard to drug smuggling, PTI reported citing people familiar with the matter.