Election Commission of India takes stock of Manipur poll preparations

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission of India (EC) will take stock of poll preparations in Manipur on Wednesday via video conferencing. The EC met had on Tuesday to deliberate on holding elections amid the surge of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

The meeting with officials of Manipur will be the last as the EC has already visited the poll-bound States of Punjab, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Goa.

The meeting will be with political parties and officials of the State Government to get relevant feedback and the status of poll preparations. The Commission has held meetings to revise COVID-19 guidelines after it received a report from the Union Health Secretary. Sources say that stricter guidelines are likely to be issued soon, with curbs on crowds and other publicity modes.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sushil Chandra had said on December 30 in Lucknow representatives of all political parties who met him during his visit said that the Assembly elections should be conducted on time following all COVID-19 protocols.

This is a clear indication that there will be no postponement of the elections in the poll-bound States.

Addressing the media at the end of his three-day visit, the CEC had said that Uttar Pradesh now has 52.08 lakh new voters who will exercise their franchise in the upcoming Assembly elections.

"In view of the increase in number of voters and also the prevailing pandemic condition, we have decided to set up 11,000 more polling booths to ensure that there is no crowding. With this, there will also be an increase in the number of polling personnel. We are also increasing the polling time by one hour across the State to prevent crowding at polling stations," he said. (IANS)

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