COVID-19: Election Commission bans victory processions after poll results

Photo used for representational purpose. Pic/AFP

Amid a spike in COVID-19 cases, the Election Commission of India banned all victory processions on or after the day of the counting of votes (May 2).

"Not more than two persons shall be allowed to accompany the winning candidate or his/her authorised representative to receive the certificate of election from the Returning Officer concerned," said the EC.

Assembly polls were scheduled in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Assam, and Puducherry in eight phases, beginning March 27 and ending April 29.

On Monday, the Madras High Court castigated the Election Commission over the COVID-19 second wave in the country, holding it ‘singularly' responsible for the spread, called it the ‘the most irresponsible institution' and even said its officials should probably be booked for murder. The EC allowing political parties to take out rallies and meetings had led to the spread of the virus, the HC said.

The first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy made the stinging observation while hearing a public interest writ from Karur AIADMK candidate and Transport Minister M R Vijayabaskar for the April 6 Assembly polls. Their petition sought a direction to the authorities to ensure fair counting of votes on May 2 in Karur by taking effective steps and proper arrangements with COVID-19 protocols. Chief Justice Banerjee warned that the court will stop the counting of votes on May 2 if a blueprint to follow COVID-19 protocol is not put in place.

Earlier, the Election Commission had curtailed the timings of campaigns for the remaining phases and extended the silence period to 72 hours for each of the phases.

With 3,23,144 people testing positive for coronavirus infection in a day, India's total tally of COVID-19 cases has climbed to 1,76,36,307, while the national recovery rate has further dropped to 82.54 per cent, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday.

The death toll increased to 1,97,894 with 2,771 daily new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

There has been a slight dip in the daily cases as compared to the number of new infections reported in the past few days.

The active cases have increased to 28,82,204 comprising 16.34 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has further dropped to 82.54 per cent.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19. India crossed the grim milestone of 1.50 crore on April 19.

(With agency inputs)