SHIMLA: The chief electoral officer of Himachal Pradesh has instructed all parties and district polling officers to follow the Covid-19 protocol in the byelections for the Lok Sabha seat of Mandi and the assembly seats of Fatehpur, Arki, and Jubbal-Kotkhai. Orders are out to appoint health nodal officers at the state, district, and assembly constituency levels.
CEO C Paulrasu said the district election officers and the EOs will coordinate this safety campaign against coronavirus with the health department officers. The Election Commission of India guidelines require adequate polling and counting officers along with the reserve staff. The door-to-door campaigning teams can have five members at the most, while road shows, motorcades, and bicycle rallies are all barred. The audience numbers must be below 50 at the cluster point for video screenings.
Not more than 20 vehicles, each only half-occupied, can trail the star campaigners, while they can keep only two vehicles with three people along on the polling day. The count excludes security vehicles. The halls and other indoor venue can hold only up to 200 people or 30% of the room capacity. A register will carry their contacts.
At the open venues, the allowed capacity is 50% or 1,000 in case of star campaigners and 50% or 500 in all other cases. The campaign areas will be condoned and guarded, and every visitor will be monitored. The security expenditure will be billed to the parties. Only the barricaded grounds can be used for rallies.
Street assemblies can’t be of more than 50 people. The district election officers will prevent large gatherings on the counting day. The Covid protocol includes mask and social distancing.
