New Delhi: The EC meeting on Saturday further extended the ban on rallies and roadshows until 22 January in the state’s underway assembly polls. The extension in the restrictions comes in the backdrop of an alarming rise in COVID tally across the country. Holding a series of meetings beginning with the Union Health Secretary at 11 am followed by Chief ministers and heads of Health Dept of all poll-bound states at noon and Chief Election Officers at 1 pm, the EC has announced the extension.
In the list of strict restrictions- holding nukkad Sabhas, or roadside meetings, and limiting the number of people allowed for door-to-door campaigning. However, indoor political meetings would be allowed subject to a cap of 300 attendants or fifty per cent of the capacity of the hall or the limit set by the state’s disaster management authority. It is instructed to all political parties to comply with the COVID-norms set.
Convening on January 8th, the poll watchdog had banned political rallies, and other political events until today (January 15th). The order banning large scale events in poll-bound states of Goa, Punjab, UP, Uttarakhand and Manipur were issued amid the frightening rise in COVID count in the respective states.