On Friday, a day after Allahabad High Court urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to postpone the upcoming assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh the poll panel has assured that it will take an “appropriate decision”.
“Next week we will go to Uttar Pradesh, review the situation there, and then take an appropriate decision,” news agency ANI quoted Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra. CEC shared this remark after the Allahabad court pointed out the increasing trend in the state. As the state is witnessing a rise in the Omicron variant, which is more transmissible and capable of undergoing a large number of mutations.
The High Court also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Election Commission to ban the political rallies and gatherings, as this will increase the chance of spread.
High Court Justice Shekhar Yadav said, “If rallies are not stopped, the results will be worse than the second wave. Jaan hai toh Jahaan hai (If you live, only then will you have the world).”
“There’s a possibility of the third wave of Covid as the cases of the new variant Omicron are rising,” the judge observed. “Gram Panchayat elections and the Bengal assembly elections infected a lot of people, which caused many deaths as well,” the judge further said.
The country is set to witness assembly elections in five states, including the most politically-popular province Uttar Pradesh.
According to the official data released on Friday, India has crossed the mark of 350 Omicron cases. The highest cases have been reported in Maharashtra (88), followed by Delhi (67), Telangana (38), Tamil Nadu (34), and Karnataka (31).