The Election Commission of India released guidelines for the conduct of polls during the coronavirus pandemic for the Bihar assembly and the Bodoland Territorial Council elections, following various suggestions from the political parties. While the dates for these elections has been announced to be October 28th, November 3rd and 7th respectively in a manner of three phases, the precautions and procedures listed by the commission suggest that it will proceed with the poll schedule.
According to the Indian Express report, out of the 15 political parties that gave their suggestions on conducting the polls amid COVID-19, only a mere four parties – LokJanshakti Party (LJP), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), National People’s Party (NPP) and AamAadmi Party (AAP) – called for the postponement of elections while others were in favour of conducting the same.
The ruling party in Bihar, the Janata Dal (United) however has suggested that the assembly elections should be held in a single day, if possible.
Despite the ongoing anxiety and speculation about the elections, the political parties have yet to devise their plan for the campaigning and on the contrary, are against the idea of virtual campaigning. The Congress, Communist Party of India (CPI) and Communist Party of India (Marxist) have requested the commission to permit door-to-door campaigning while limiting the size of the campaign squad.
While the Congress has opposed the idea of digital campaigning claiming that it could be used by the parties to evade the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), the BharatiyaJanta Party (BJP) on the other hand supported it. The saffron party also suggested that the additional expenditure on COVID-19 related precautions should either be exempted from a candidate’s expenditure limit or be charged to the party’s account along with the suggestion that the expenditure limit for a candidate should also be increased.
The Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) proposed that the elections in Bihar should be held through ballot papers instead of using EVMs, as many people using the same set of buttons could aggravate the risk of infection, which can be evaded if the voters are mandated to wear gloves.
- How will the political parties conduct their campaign?
The ECI has, however, allowed door-to-door campaigning, roadshows and rallies with precautionary measures despite COVID-19 situation along with certain terms and conditions.
That is for the door to door campaign, only a group of five persons, including the candidate, is allowed. As for the roadshows, the convoy of vehicles is meant to be broken after every 5 vehicles instead of 10 and an interval of half-an-hour must be maintained between two sets of convoys.
For rallies, the guidelines say that the district election officer would identify dedicated grounds and put markers to ensure social distancing norms are followed by the attendees.
The limit on the number of people who can attend a rally will be prescribed by the State Disaster Management Authority.Political parties and candidates should shoulder the responsibility of ensuring that people use face masks, sanitizers, while thermal scanning should also be done during the campaign-related activities.
The guidelines also highlight that upon non-compliance of these instructions, action may be taken as per the provisions of Section 51 to 60 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, and Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
- What arrangements will be made at the polling station?
Each polling station will have a mandatory sanitization, a day before the poll and a thermal scanner at every entry point, apart from the availability of soap, water, masks and sanitizer.
Voters whose temperature is above the limit prescribed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) will be quarantined and allowed to vote only during the last hour of polling just like the COVID-19 patients to reduce the risk of infection.
For voters residing in areas declared as containment zones, guidelines will be issued separately, by the Commission.
- Are there any changes in the nomination process?
The ECI has made affidavits and nomination forms available online, on the websites of the chief/district electoral officers.
However, the forms will have to be submitted offline, before the returning officer. For this, the Commission has directed that only two persons can accompany the candidate and only two vehicles could be used for this purpose. Apart from that, the candidates will also have the option to make security deposits online.
