Bihar voters to get gloves; polling booths to have thermal scanners
New Delhi: Even though Bihar is registering above 2,500 fresh COVID-19 cases every day, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has no plan to defer the upcoming assembly elections in the state, which is due in November.
Moving forward with its pre-plan to conduct first-of-its-kind election during COVID-19 pandemic, the poll panel on Friday released the guidelines for holding elections amid the Coronavirus pandemic in Bihar.
Sources closed to the process said that assembly election in Bihar would be conducted in two or three phases instead of five or six.
As per the EC guidelines, candidates will be allowed to hold door-to-door campaigns, road shows and public gathering or rallies, but must follow COVID-19 containment conditions set by the Centre.
The other norms that to be followed include providing of disposable gloves to voters for register signing and pressing EVM button; a maximum of 1,000 voters instead of 1,500 will be present at any polling booth at a time and every voter's body temperature will be checked before the person is allowed to enter the booth.
Other norms that have been set for candidates include online nomination filing, online submission of affidavit and security deposit.
As per the guidelines, candidates would also be allowed to file their nominations physically, but only two persons would be allowed to with the nominee and two vehicles would be allowed for the nomination process.
For door-to-door campaign, a group of only five people, including candidates and excluding security personnel, will be allowed, while for road shows, the convoy of vehicles has been restricted to five instead of 10 vehicles, excluding the security vehicles and the interval between two sets of convoy of vehicles would be half an hour instead of the gap of 100 meters.
A separate set of guidelines would also be issued for voters who are residing in areas notified as "containment zone", the EC said, adding that there will be mandatory sanitisation of polling stations, preferably a day before the polls.
As per the ECI norms, mask will be a must for all those participating in the election process, including voters, candidates, workers, officials, etc. Apart from it, PPE kits would also be made available to polling officers and security personnel wherever required.
The district election officer would identify in advance dedicated grounds for public gatherings with clearly marked entry and exit points.
Voters infected with COVID-19 and observing quarantine will be allowed to cast their vote at the last hour of the poll day at their respective polling stations under the strict supervision of health authorities in coordination with sector magistrates.
No more than seven tables will be allowed in a single counting hall which means that votes in each constituency will be counted at three-four halls by the appointment of additional assistant returning officers. Each polling officer and security personnel will be provided a kit comprising a face mask, sanitiser, face shield and gloves.
Violators will be liable to face action as per the provisions of Section 51 to 60 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, besides legal action under Section 188 of the IPC.
