Public meetings, road shows and physical campaign in the form of door-to-door campaigns will be permitted in elections during COVID-19 subject to restrictions aimed at curbing the outbreak, as per the guidelines issued by the Election Commission on Friday.
The guidelines, which will be put to test in the upcoming Assembly elections in Bihar, allows public meetings and road shows with suitable instructions subject to containment regulations issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the state government. This is significant since a number of political parties had conveyed to the poll body their reservation regarding virtual outreach being the mainstay of the election campaign and had stressed on the need for traditional means of electioneering to be permitted.
The Commission considered the views and suggestions received from national and state parties and chief electoral officers of states and Union territories on election campaign and meetings while drafting the guidelines.
In road shows, the convoy of vehicles should be broken after every five vehicles instead of ten vehicles, excluding the security vehicles, if any. The interval between two sets of convoy of vehicles should be half an hour instead of the gap of 100 metres.
To ensure that COVID-19 related restrictions are followed in public meetings, district election officers should in advance identify dedicated grounds for public gathering with clearly marked entry and exit points. In all such identified grounds, markers will have to be placed in advance to ensure social distancing by the attendees.
The political parties and candidates should ensure that all COVID-19 related requirements like face masks, sanitisers, thermal scanning etc. are fulfilled during each of these activities. Non-compliance of instructions will be liable to be proceeded against as per the provisions of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, besides legal action under Section 188 of the IPC, and other legal provisions as applicable.
Keeping the containment guidelines in view, the Commission has limited the number of persons, including the candidate, for door-to-door campaign to five.
The number of voters per polling booth shall be limited to a thousand rather than 1500. Face mask, sanitiser, thermal scanners, gloves, face shield and PPE kits shall be used during the electoral process ensuring social distancing norms. Thermal screening of all persons shall be carried out and sanitiser and soap and water shall be made available.
If the temperature of any voter is above the set norms at the first reading, then it will be checked twice and if it remains, then the person shall be provided with a token or a certificate and will be asked to come for voting at the last hour of poll. At the last hour of poll, such voters shall be facilitated voting, strictly following COVID-19 related preventive measures.
During the process of identification at the time of voting, the voters will be required to lower the facemask for identification, when necessary.
Hand gloves shall be provided to all the voters for signing on the voter register and pressing button of EVM for voting.
COVID-19 patients who are quarantined will be allowed to cast their vote at the last hour of the poll day at their respective polling stations under the supervision of health authorities. For voters residing in containment zones, guidelines will be issued separately.
Postal ballot will be extended to voters with disabilities, those who are over 80 years of age, people employed in essential services, as also those who are COVID-19 positive or suspected to be suffering from the viral ailment and in quarantine.
The poll body has revised the norms regarding number of persons accompanying the candidate and number of vehicles at the time of nomination. It has also created optional facility to fill the nomination form and the affidavit online and submission of the same, after taking print-out, before the Returning Officer concerned. For the first time, the candidates will have the option to deposit security amount for contesting the elections online.
The Chief Electoral Officers of the states and UTs should make comprehensive state, district and assembly constituency election plans regarding arrangement and preventive measures following these guidelines, taking local conditions into account. These plans will be prepared in consultation with nodal officer for COVID-19 in their respective states and UTs.
