Will Physical Rallies Return? Election Commission To Decide Tomorrow

The poll body will tomorrow meet with the Union Health Secretary, and the Chief Secretaries and Health Secretaries of states headed for polls to take stock of the situation.

A decision on whether political parties will be allowed to hold physical rallies in states going to polls starting next month will be taken tomorrow at a review meeting of the Election Commission. Physical campaigning was banned by the Commission - until January 15 first and later extended till January 22 - amid an unprecedented surge in cases of coronavirus in the country believed to be driven by the highly transmissible Omicron variant.

The poll body will tomorrow meet with the Union Health Secretary, and the Chief Secretaries and Health Secretaries of states headed for polls to take stock of the situation.

The five states - Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur, and Goa - will submit the current status of vaccination and caseload in the virtual meeting.

On January 8, the top poll body had said rallies, roadshows, and other kinds of political events, indoors and outdoors, would be banned till January 15, and that the order would then be reviewed.