UP polls: Amid Omicron scare, Allahabad HC urges ECI, PM Modi to postpone polls, ban rallies

With the assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh slated for early next year, the Allahabad High Court has requested the Election Commission of India to immediately postpone the Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh for 1-2 months.

Keeping in view the rising Covid-19 variant Omicron scare, the court also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the EC to immediately ban rallies and public meetings of political parties in the state.

"If rallies are not stopped, results will be worse than the second wave," Justice Shekhar Yadav said, adding that, "Jaan hai toh Jahaan hai (if there is life, we have the world)."

While appreciating Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Covid-19 vaccination campaign, the court requested him to consider stopping rallies, gatherings and postponing the upcoming state elections, taking strong measures in view of the pandemic situation.

As the assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh are slated for early in 2022, all the political parties are mobilising lakhs of people by holding rallies and meetings where it is not possible to follow Covid protocols, including social distancing, in any way, the HC observed.

If this is not stopped in time, the consequences could be more dire than the second wave of the pandemic, it warned.

The court requested the Election Commission of India to immediately stop such rallies and gatherings and also order political parties to campaign through TV channels and newspapers.

The court said, if possible, the elections that are expected to be held in February next year could be postponed by a couple of months because only if there is life, then the election rallies and meetings can take place and the right to life has also been given under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.

So far, 236 cases of Omicron variant of coronavirus have been reported in the country so far, according to the health ministry data. 

Out of this, Maharashtra topped the list with 65 confirmed cases followed by Delhi with 64 cases and Telangana with 24 cases. Of the 213 cases, 104 patients have recovered from the virus.

Meanwhile, Union Health Ministry on Tuesday alerted States and Union Territories about the new Covid-19 variant, Omicron, and said that based on current scientific evidence, Omicron is at least three times more transmissible than the Delta variant.

The ministry further added that greater foresight, data analysis, dynamic decision making and strict and prompt containment action are required at the local and district level.

(With inputs from agencies)