Ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections, which are expected to be held in October, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday issued guidelines for the conduct of general/bye-elections during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As per the guidelines, a group of five persons, including candidates but excluding security personnel, if any, will be allowed to do door to door campaigning.
For roadshows, the convoy of vehicles should be broken after every 5 (five) vehicles instead of 10 vehicles (excluding the security vehicles, if any). The interval between two sets of convoys of vehicles should be half an hour instead of a gap of 100 meters.
The guidelines prescribe that every person will have to wear a face mask during every election-related activity. At the entry of hall/room/premises used for election purposes, thermal scanning of all persons shall be carried out. Sanitizer, soap and water shall be made available.
Social distancing will mandatorily have to be maintained as per the extant COVID-19 guidelines of the State Governments and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA)
The guidelines state that the public gatherings/rallies may be conducted subject to adherence to extant COVID-19 guidelines.
Further, it is provided that the candidates can file their nomination and affidavit online. They can also deposit security money through online mode at the designated platform. However, a candidate will continue to have the option of deposit in cash in the treasury.
A candidate may have the option to seek his/her elector certification for the purpose of nomination online.
The guidelines restrict the number of persons to accompany candidates for submission of a nomination to two persons.
Election Material Kit will be prepared in a spacious and sufficiently large hall following all safety, sanitation, and social distancing measures.
On July 17, the ECI had sought views/suggestions of National/State Political Parties on the election campaigns and public meetings during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Assembly elections are due in the months of October-November in Bihar.
Read the Guidelines
http://theleaflet.in/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Guidelines-for-Conduct-of-General-Election_Bye-election-during-COVID-19-1.pdf
