Postpone Assembly Polls or Hold Fewer Phases with Strict Curbs? Tough Call for EC Amid Omicron Fears

A shorter or normal duration election with curbs from the onset or the so far unlikely option of postponing polls — the Election Commission of India will take a final call on Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and four other states after an assessment of the Covid-19 situation with the government.

The debate whether to hold or postpone elections has been triggered after an Allahabad High Court judge, in an unrelated case on Thursday, offered advice to the Prime Minister to postpone the elections in the light of the threat from the new Covid variant, Omicron.

“The final call is of the Election Commission. They will be discussing the Covid situation with the Health Ministry next week ahead of the impending announcement of the election schedule. But we believe there are options on the table,” a senior government official told News18.com.

One of these options may be to have a shorter election with strict curbs from the onset in place to disallow any big rallies or gatherings during the campaign. This was done during the last two phases of West Bengal polls by the EC after much criticism for giving lee-way to political parties earlier in the campaign amid rising Covid cases during the second wave.

Reacting to the Allahabad High Court judge’s advice, Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra said, “We will take all measures needed, will take necessary action if needed. We have directed State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) to keep track of cases and see that cases don’t increase. We will visit UP next week and analyse the situation and decide on further course of action.”

Experts have predicted that India could be hit by a third wave in February due to the Omicron variant. Many states, including Uttar Pradesh, have already brought back the night curfew provisions.

The Uttar Pradesh election in 2017 was conducted over seven phases between February 11 and March 9 while three other states polled in a single phase and Manipur had polled in two phases after the election schedule was announced on January 4, 2017.

An official said that if enough security forces are made available, “there is no reason” why Uttar Pradesh cannot polls in fewer phases. However, one school of thought is to have a normal duration election stretching till March but with curbs in place.

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