Election Commission of India issues COVID-19 guidelines for conduct of Bihar polls
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The Bihar election will be first state polls to take place since the outbreak of coronavirus in India this year.
As Bihar election approaches, the Election Commission of India has issued fresh guidelines in view of the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the state. The state elections are likely to be held between October and November since the term of the current legislative assembly ends on November 29.
The Bihar election will be first state polls to take place since the outbreak of coronavirus in India this year.
The Election Commission arrived at its guidelines after taking suggestions from various parties and chief electoral officers of various states. The EC has made it mandatory for all votes to wear masks with hand gloves to be provided to voters as they sign the register and press the EVM button.
The election body however informed that all voters would need to remove their masks for identification by officials at the time of voting.
According to EC's rule, maximum of 1,000 voters can vote at a polling station and if a voter shows symptoms of coronavirus, the person would be given a token and would be asked to come and vote in the last hour of polling.
Also, just two people can accompany a candidate during nomination. India's poll watchdog has also laid down that only five people can campaign door-to-door, and has restricted the convoy for the roadshow to five vehicles only.
The EC has said that quarantined coronavirus patients will be allowed to vote in the last hour of voting which would be strictly supervised by health officials.