E-Paper
‘Elections during my term will be held on time,’ says Sunil Arora
West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Puducherry will go to the elections in May and June next year.
After conducting Bihar assembly election amid Covid-19 pandemic, the election commission is now busy in its internal exercises for the assembly election slated to be held in early 2021. Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora’s term is till April 13, 2021. “Whichever election falls before that shall be held on time,” Arora said in an interview to PTI.
Elections are due in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Assam and Puducherry in May and June next year.
The commission never rests, the CEC said adding that conducting elections is a continuous process.
Holding Bihar election amid the pandemic was a challenge which the Election Commission faced with flying colours. The EC’s decidion to not postponed the elections was courted with doubts and apprehension.
“This time, a major component as added to it -- it should also be a safe election. Safe for the electors, safe for the polling officials, safe for all concerned. Maybe proving is not the right nuance. Yes, Election Commission can rise to any challenge and it did rise up to the challenge of Covid-19... Of course, critics may remain, and should also remain as they are also a part of the system,” Arora said.
The commission had taken a variety of measures such as reducing the number of voters per polling station from 1,500 to 1,000 to ensure distancing. This meant an addition of 33,000 polling stations. Bihar this time had 1.06 lakh polling stations, which also prolonged the counting process.
(With PTI Inputs)
