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Tribune News Service
New Delhi, January 8
Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa will go to the polls in seven phases from February 10 to March 7. The votes will be counted on March 10.
Announcing the dates today, the Election Commission said roadshows, physical rallies and corner meetings were barred till January 15. Only virtual campaigning was allowed. As many as 690 Assembly seats are up for grabs with the BJP in the race to defend its governments in four states except Punjab. The ruling Congress aims to beat anti-incumbency in Punjab while the AAP and the TMC seek to expand their footprint beyond New Delhi and West Bengal.
Guidelines for campaigning
- Polling time increased by 1 hr
- Ban on ‘nukkad sabhas’ at public roads/roundabouts
- Only 5 persons for door-to-door campaign, including candidate
- No victory processions after counting of votes on March 10
- 8 pm - 8 am campaign curfew
- Covid-hit, quarantined to cast vote during the last hour of polling
- Mandatory to publish why candidate with criminal record picked
- Parties will have to give reasons why others without criminal antecedents not chosen
Punjab, Goa and Uttarakhand will witness a single-phase election on February 14, UP will vote in seven phases on February 10, 14, 20, 23, 27, March 3 and March 7 and Manipur in two phases on February 27 and March 3. The total voters, as per electoral rolls of these states, are 18,34,23,364. The battlelines were drawn today the moment Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra announced the poll schedule, banning rallies, roadshows and corner meetings until January 15 in the wake of a surging Covid pandemic. The model code of conduct has come into effect immediately.
On union budget
Wouldn’t want to interfere in Union Budget. It will not disturb level playing field for parties during the elections.
Social media posts
Strict watch on social media posts is being kept to ensure that the election atmosphere is not vitiated.
— Sushil Chandra, chief election commissioner
The upcoming election cycle will be unprecedented in that physical outreach to voters has been banned for the first time in the history of independent India. Only door-to-door campaigns will be allowed with a maximum of five persons, including the candidate.
The EC said it would review the pandemic situation after January 15 to decide on the rally ban, but till then all parties would have to follow its 16-point Covid guidelines. Non-compliance will invite action, including cancellation of permission for subsequent rallies and events of political parties and candidates.
The upcoming elections are key to BJP’s fortunes considering the party along with allies holds 440 of the 690 seats going into polls, which is 64 percent (two third) of all seats. The Congress holds 114 seats and faces an uphill task of defending Punjab, one of the only three states (others being Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh) where it is in power on its own.
In UP, the BJP and allies have a massive task at hand of saving a historic mandate it got in 2017 by winning 325 of the Assembly’s 403 seats. Defending this score would be significant for the BJP’s 2024 Lok Sabha prospects and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s return to power.
According to the UP poll schedule, 58 constituencies in western UP will poll in the first phase on February 10 like in 2017. The eastern UP from where CM Yogi Adityanath hails will vote in the later phases. The impact of the farmers’ agitation against agricultural laws that stand repealed has been the highest in west UP, which the BJP had swept in 2017.
In Punjab, AAP is building up as a major rival to the ruling Congress, which has 80 MLAs in the 117-member Assembly. The BJP and Capt Amarinder Singh combine and the SAD-BSP coalition are queering the pitch in a multi-cornered contest where the impact of farmers’ movement remains pervasive.
In Uttarakhand (70 seats), the Congress with 11 MLAs is directly challenging the ruling BJP (with 57 MLAs). AAP is the third player here. In Manipur (60 seats) and Goa (40) where the Congress had emerged the single-largest party in 2017 only to squander its mandate to defections, the ruling BJP will defend its turf.
The notification for elections in Punjab, Goa and Uttarakhand will be issued on January 21. The last date for filing nominations is January 28. After scrutiny of nominations on January 29, the last date for withdrawal of candidature is January 31.
The CEC said all arrangements were in place to make the polls Covid safe with the maximum number of electors per polling station reduced from 1,500 to 1,250 and all people on election duties mandated to be fully vaccinated. “We have also doubled the allocated time to all recognised parties for publicity of election matters,” Sushil Chandra said.
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