Will Assembly polls get postponed amid COVID-19? Decision likely today

The Election Commission of India (ECI) will on Monday hold a meeting with senior officials of the Union ministry of health and family welfare, including Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan to discuss the current COVID-19 situation ahead of the assembly elections in five states next year.

Assembly elections are due in five states including Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Uttarakhand, Goa and Punjab in 2022.

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“The Election Commission of India will convene a meeting on December 27 at 11am with senior officials of the ministry of health and family welfare, including secretary Rajesh Bhushan. The meeting will discuss the prevailing Covid-19 situation for upcoming assembly elections in five states,” news agency ANI quoted a person familiar with the development as saying.

It can be seen that the meeting come days after the Allahabad High Court requested the EC to immediately postpone the assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh for one to two months amid rising cases of the omicron variant of the coronavirus.

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On Thursday, the high court also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ECI to immediately ban rallies and public meetings of political parties in the state.

On December 23, Bhushan directed the poll-bound states to “exponentially ramp up vaccination”, especially in the “low coverage districts” to protect the vulnerable population.

The directions came just hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting with officials amid the rising cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

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The Union health ministry has also sent multidisciplinary teams to Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. The teams will assess the situation, suggest remedial actions and submit a report every evening by 7pm.

As many as 77 new cases of the heavily mutated omicron variant were reported on Sunday and the number of states and Union territories that have reported these infections has now touched 19.