Election Commission ready to hold Covid-safe polls: CEC Sushil Chandra

Weeks before the assembly polls in five states, chief election commissioner(CEC) Sushil Chandra on Monday said that all necessary arrangements have been made for “absolutely Covid safe” elections and urged voters to exercise their democratic right enthusiastically.

Referring to the elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab and Manipur to be held in seven phases between February 10 and March 7, he said the election panel has emphasized on increasing the pace of Covid-19 vaccination in these states.

"We have emphasised increasing the pace of vaccination in all five poll-bound states and all arrangements will be made to ensure that this election is absolutely safe," Chandra said.

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“For the last two years, the Covid-19 pandemic has made the conduct of elections far more challenging. It is with the confidence and the support of the voters that we have managed to conduct six assembly elections and many more by-elections,” he said in a video message to the public on the eve of the 12th National Voters’ Day.

The CEC also pointed out that the right to vote was bestowed upon every adult citizen of India at the same time as India won her freedom.

"For a newly-independent country with a literacy rate of 18%, this was a truly radical move," he said.

Chandra also said that there are more than 95.3 crore voters of which 49 crore are male voters and 46 crore are female voters. Among these registered voters, there are 1.92 crore senior citizens.

The Election Commission came into being on January 25, 1950, a day before India became a republic. For the past 12 years now, January 25 has been celebrated as National Voters’ Day.

The theme for this year’s National Voters’ Day is ‘Making Elections Inclusive, Accessible and Participative’.