The Election Commission of India (ECI) will review the Covid situation in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh on Monday before making a decision on the ban on physical rallies, roadshows, and ‘padyatras’ it imposed in the wake of a spike in Covid cases when it announced the poll schedule for five states, including UP, on January 8.
While assessing the Covid situation on January 22, the ECI granted political parties various concessions, including the ability to hold meetings in specified open locations, indoor meetings, and door-to-door campaigns. With the number of new Covid cases in Uttar Pradesh declining, with active Covid cases in the state falling to 55,574 on Sunday (January 30) from a high of 1,06,616 on January 17, the poll panel is likely to offer political parties more leeway in organising election campaigns on Monday.
After the ECI issued notifications for these phases, nomination papers for the first phase of assembly election on 58 seats in 11 districts and 55 assembly segments in 9 districts of west UP have been filed, while nomination papers for the third phase poll on 59 seats in 16 districts and the fourth phase poll on 60 seats in 9 districts are still being filed.
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