What is Ananya's new headache
- 29-10-2021
- News
Election Commission has announced schedule for 2022 elections in 5 states- Goa,Punjab,Manipur,Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh. Amid the growing cases of Omicron in India, Election Commission has also given some important guidelines to follow during the elections.
Today Chief Election Commissioner of India addressed the press conference and announced the much awaited dates of assemble elections. Election Commission has announced the schedule for assembly elections in 7 phases.
Elections will be held in Uttrakhand , Punjab and Goa on 14th February. Elections will be held in 2 phases in Manipur. If we count the assembly seats, UP has 403, Punjab has 117, Uttarakhand has 70, Goa has 40, Manipur has 60 seats.
If we go through the detailed schedule of UP -
First phase in UP – 10 February on 58 seats
Second Phase in UP – 14 February-on 55 seats
Third Phase in UP – 20 February on 59 seats
Fourth Phase in UP- 23 February on 60
Fifth Phase in UP- 27 February on 60
Sixth Phase in UP- 3 March on 57 seats
Seventh Phase in UP- 7 March on 54 seats
Nominations in UP will begin on 10th February. Results of the poles of 5 states will be declared on 10th March. Detailed schedule will be published later.
In UP, the last date of the nominations will be 21st January. Scrutiny of nomination will be 24th January. Last date of withdrawl of candidature will be 27th January.
If we, look at the present situations of vaccine doses in the states right now where the elections are going to be held, so many people have taken the first dose. In UP, 90% of the population has been administered with the first dose and 50% population has taken both the doses.
All political parties will have to adhere to COVID guidelines. Election Commission has also extended the polling time by an hour for people to not gather so much crowd at a time. Sushil Chandra has also announced that all the people deployed as workers in elections will be trated as frontline workers as will be given booster dose also. All people who will come to vote, all the polling workers and also the party workers will have to follow the COVID guidelines strictly. No Nukkad gathering, cycle rally or anything will be allowed. But party workers can go door to door for contact.
Also, no victory rally will be allowed after the announcement of theresult on 10th March.
Elections Commission has asked the political parties to shift to virtual platform. No any rally or public gathering by any political party is allowed upto 15th January to prevent the major spread of Omicron. But the process of implementation and punishment for not adhering to these guidelines is not clear. Election Commission can only provide the guidelines, accountability of implementation of these guidelines lies on the government machinery.
18.34 Crores electors including service electors will take part in this election, in which 8.55 Crore are women electors. This time share of women electors has increased significantly in all 5 states in comparison of previos elections. In these 5 states, 24.9 lakh voters are going to vote for the first time, that is they are the fresh electors of age 18-19. Out of these young and new electors, 11.4 lakh are women electors. Almost 13 lakh are PwD voters this time. Almost 30 lakh senior citizens of 80+ age are going to vote in these elections. That’s why adhering to COVID guidelines is very important this time.
Officers will be appointed this time to keep an eye on every polling station very carefully to make sure that guidelines are being followed. These officers will also ensure that all facilities are available at the polling stations. Facilties like drinking water, sanitation, electricity, security, toilets have to be available and in proper working consitions at all the polling stations. Also, the COVID special facility like sanitizers, masks, gloves, thermal scanners will be available at all the polling stations. This time only 1250 electors will be voting at each polling station. This time 30,330 more polling stations are made this time to ensure the social distancing norms being followed and people get a safe environment to vote. 2,15,368 polling stations have been made this time. This time as a move of women empowerment, 1620 polling stations will be completely mananged by the women staff including the women security personnel. Also some polling stations will be managed by the disabled people this time to give them a confidence.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister of UP, Yogi Adityanath has tweeted that we will come back in power again with grand majority. Public will give us support once again.