Guidelines issued for conduct of polls during COVID-19

New Delhi: The Election Commission of India today approved the broad guidelines for the conduct of general/bye-elections during COVID-19 period.

Salient features of the guidelines include the following:

The Commission has revised the norms of number of persons accompanying the candidate and number of vehicles at the time of nomination. It has also created an optional facility to fill the nomination form and the affidavit online and submission of the same, after taking print, before the RO concerned.

For the first time, the candidates will have the option to deposit security amount for contesting the elections online. Keeping the containment guidelines in view, the Commission has limited the number of persons including candidate for door-to-door campaign to five.

Public meeting and roadshows shall be permissible with suitable instructions subject to containment instructions issued by the MHA/State. Facemask, sanitizer, thermal scanners, gloves, face shield and PPE kits shall be used during the electoral process ensuring social distancing norms. Hand gloves shall be provided to all the electors for signing on the voter register and pressing button of EVM for voting.

The Chief Electoral Officers of concerned States/UTs, shall make comprehensive State/District & AC election plans regarding arrangement and preventive measures following these guidelines taking local conditions into account. These plans will be prepared in consultation with Nodal Officer for COVID-19 in their respective States/UTs.

For detailed guidelines, click here.