E-Paper
After Calcutta HC order, poll panel calls all-party meet to ensure Covid-19 norms
West Bengal reported 5,892 new cases on Wednesday which is more than 27 times the daily count recorded on February 26, when the ECI had announced the poll dates. This is also the highest daily count of Covid-19 infections the state has registered since the outbreak in 2020.
The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of West Bengal has called for an all-party meeting on April 16 to implement Covid-19 protocols during election campaigns.
This comes a day after the Calcutta High Court ordered the state’s CEO and all district magistrates to ensure strict implementation of coronavirus-related protocols amid political campaigns for the remaining four out of eight phases of polls in West Bengal.
“The CEO will meet all the 10 recognized political parties on Friday afternoon. The additional director general (law and order) and health secretary will also attend the meeting,” said a senior official of the poll panel.
West Bengal reported 5,892 new cases on Wednesday which is more than 27 times the daily count recorded on February 26, when the ECI had announced the poll dates. This is also the highest daily count of Covid-19 infections the state has registered since the outbreak in 2020.
“The district magistrates have already been directed to ensure that court orders on following Covid-19 protocols are strictly maintained. The DMs have also been asked to organize all-party meetings at their level,” said the poll panel official.
The court had directed the CEO and DMs to ensure that the guidelines are “strictly implemented”, with the aid of the police force and also called for stringent action against those who fail to adhere to the protocols.
“If the administration finds a person, whether engaged in election campaigning or otherwise, flouting Covid-19 protocols, such a person must be taken to task immediately,” the order said.
To ensure social distancing, the administration may, so far as possible, resort to provisions of Section 144 of the CrPc, the court said.
The ECI had earlier issued a set of Covid-19 protocols which were flouted by all political parties.
