2,097 govt personnel died of Covid during election duty in UP

According to the letter, 2,128 government employees died during election duty of which 2,097 succumbed to Covid-19 while 31 others died of other causes

A fresh tabulation by the Uttar Pradesh government has revealed that 2,097 government personnel died of Covid-19 infections while on duty in the three-tier panchayat election in April in the state, and a large number of them were teachers.

Representational Image. (HT archive)

The election was held in four phases from April 15 to 29, and the counting of votes was done on May 2.

Additional chief secretary (panchayati raj) Manoj Kumar Singh shared the tabulation with secretary, state election commission, asking him to ensure early transfer of ₹30 lakh ex gratia each to the families of the deceased.

“I have been directed to convey to you that the ex gratia payment must be made available to the heirs of the personnel, who died in the election duty, with immediate effect,” Singh said in his letter last week.

According to the letter, 2,128 government employees died during election duty of which 2,097 succumbed to Covid-19 while 31 others died of other causes.

“An amount of ₹633.25 crore is required to be paid as ex gratia to the victims’ heirs and of this amount, ₹606 crore has been made available to the state election commission while the remaining ₹27.75 crore is being arranged,” Singh said.

While the personnel who died of Covid-19 belonged to various departments, almost 95% of them were teachers from the education department (basic education, secondary education, higher education and technical education). The government initially made a provision for ₹30 lakh ex gratia but this covered only the day the staff was on election duty. By this criterion, only 74 personnel died (40 due to Covid and 34 for other reasons) during election duty.

The government later changed the definition of election duty to accommodate more personnel by increasing the duty period to 30 days.