Elections in five states from Feb 10- March 7; results on March 10

PTI, Jan 8, 2022, 4:23 PM IST

Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa will be held between February 10 and March 7 in seven phases, the Election Commission announced on Saturday.

The counting of votes will be held on March 10.

With the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic unfolding, the commission has set new protocols to ensure ”Covid safe” elections to 690 assembly seats across the five states, Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra told reporters here. He was flanked by election commissioners Rajiv Kumar and Anup Chandra Pandey.

In Uttar Pradesh, elections will be held in 403 assembly seats in seven phases from February 10 to March 7.

Elections in 60 constituencies of Manipur will held in two phases on February 27 and March 3, while polling in Goa (40 seats), Punjab (117 seats) and Uttarakhand (70 seats) will be held on February 14.

The Model Code of Conduct has come into effect in the five states with the announcement of elections.

Pointers from the live presser:

• Political parties and candidates advised to conduct their election campaign in digital or virtual modes as much as possible
• All parties, candidates must ensure strong checks against hate speech, fake news; Strict vigil would be done of social media platforms
• No physical rallies allowed till January 15 in wake of Covid-related concerns; A review to be done at appropriate time
• A maximum of five persons to be allowed for door-to-door election campaign by candidates
• All personnel on election duty will be doubly-vaccinated and also eligible for precautionary third dose to ensure Covid-safe polls
• Comprehensive plan of action in place to ensure inducement-free elections in all five states
• Opinion of health experts taken to ensure Covid-safe elections; Polling time in all five states to be increased by one hour