The Election Commission (EC) has asked respective state chief secretaries to file an FIR against COVID-19 norms violators in states where polling is underway. The EC had banned victory celebrations and vehicle rallies in the wake of the surge in COVID-19 cases.
In a letter, the EC said it has taken serious note of reports coming in of congregation of people to celebrate anticipated victory. The EC directed chief secretaries of all states, union territory to file FIRs in each such case. The poll watchdog also directed to suspend concerned SHOs of areas where such gatherings take place. Videos of supporters of DMK, TMC celebrating in Chennai, Kolkata are being circulated on social media.
Counting of votes for assembly seats in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Puducherry began at 8am on Sunday. Of the 294 seats in West Bengal, mid-day trends showed TMC was leading in 200 seats, while the BJP was leading in 99. Trends indicated that Tamil Nadu's ruling AIADMK could cede power to arch rival DMK. In Puducherry, the AINRC-led NDA was headed towards power. In Kerala, the LDF looks poised for another term in power. The ruling NDA was ahead of the Congress-led Grand Alliance with leads in 79 of 126 seats in Assam.
A record 3,689 daily COVID-19 fatalities pushed India's death toll to 2,15,542, while the infection count reached to 1,95,57,457 with 3,92,488 more people being confirmed positive for the disease, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Sunday.
