Everyone on election duty for the upcoming polls for five assemblies will be vaccinated against COVID-19 before polling day, the Election Commission said on Friday.
“At 2.7 lakh polling stations for 824 seats in five assembly elections, nearly 18.68 crore voters will be eligible to vote,” Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said at a press conference here.
For the five assembly elections, arrangements will be placed in a place for candidates to register their nominations online. Voting would be permitted for an extra hour, taking into account the safety guidelines for COVID-19, he said.
“Webcasting arrangements will also be in place at polling stations in sensitive and vulnerable areas, though sufficient deployment of CAPF (Central Armed Police Forces) for the assembly polls will be ensured,” Arora said.
“All vital and vulnerable regions have been established and advance teams have already been deployed across all four states and Puducherry is going to the polls in one union territory,” he added.
He said that door-to-door campaigning would be limited to five people, including the candidate, while a maximum of five vehicles would be permitted for roadshows.
Arora said that the national vaccination campaign has made the situation more conducive to the conduct of elections, and for the sake of the vaccine, the Health Ministry has designated everyone on poll duty as frontline staff.
Before the polls, all survey officials will be vaccinated, Arora said.
