New Delhi: Ahead of the upcoming assembly elections in five states, the Election Commission of India (ECI) conducted a meeting regarding the latest covid-19 guidelines. The meeting was attended by the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sushil Chandra along with other officials.
In the meeting, a discussion was held to make changes to the existing covid-19 guidelines for the poll-bound states. It is expected that the commission may make the covid-19 protocols more stringent during the upcoming assembly elections.
Sources inform ABP News, CEC directed that the vaccination effort be stepped up and that people to be sent on election duty be doubly vaccinated. Commission, however, will not impose the mandatory requirement of getting vaccinated on voters due to their fundamental right to vote.
During the meeting, stringent covid protocols during election rallies were also pondered upon and a related guideline may be issued soon
After the meeting, the commission may discuss the new Covid protocol with the five states including UP, Uttarakhand, and Punjab on Wednesday.
Earlier, the ECI had written to the chief secretaries of five poll-bound states, requesting that they “accelerate” the Covid-19 immunisation process. The survey panel was especially concerned about Manipur’s low percentage of first-dose covid vaccination coverage.
This year, the assembly elections are scheduled to be conducted in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa, and Manipur.
According to reports, the EC had informed the chief secretaries of 5 states in a recent letter that polling employees fall under the category of frontline workers and are entitled to the “precaution dosage” of the Covid vaccinations.
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