Election Commission bans all victory processions on or after May 2 amid spike in COVID-19 cases

The Election Commission has banned the political parties taking out the victory procession on the day of counting of Assembly elections, ie on May 2 and even after that.

Also, the Election Commission has also said that no more than two people along with the winning candidate or their representative will be allowed to go to the returning officer to get a certificate of their victory.

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The Election Commission has said in its order that in view of the increasing cases of corona infection in the country, the Commission has decided that the rules will be strictly followed during the counting of votes.

Recently, assembly elections were held in four states and one union territory (West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry). Votes are to be counted on May 2.

Voting will be held in the eighth and final phase in West Bengal on April 29.

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A day earlier, the Madras High Court strongly criticized the Election Commission for allowing election rallies during the covid-19 epidemic.

On Monday, Chief Justice of Madras High Court, Justice Sanjib Banerjee told the counsel appearing for the Election Commission that, "Only the Election Commission is responsible for the second wave of Corona."

Chief Justice said that "Election Commission officials should be accused of murder."

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The court said that the commission should present a complete plan as to how the guidelines imposed on account of covid-19 will be followed on the day of counting, otherwise the court may stop the counting of votes on May 2.

India has reported 3,23,144 new cases with the total number of cases crossing the 1.75 crore mark, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday.  The total number of cases rose to 1,76,36,307 and the number of active cases at 28,82,204, the data updated at 8 am showed.

As many as 2771 fatalities were registered, taking the death toll to 1,97,894, the data stated.

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