The Election Commission of India on Friday issued guidelines for the conduct of polls during the pandemic, incorporating a host of precautionary measures but not banning convicted leaders from being part of online campaigns as proposed by the BJP.

The guidelines will apply to the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections and the bypolls to 57 state and Lok Sabha seats that are expected to take place after September 7.

The guidelines do not touch upon online campaign at all, which would mean the existing laws on political advertising that put no bar on convicted leaders from being aired on the virtual medium would continue to be in place.

Many had linked the BJP’s proposal to a purported plan to prevent jailed Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad from being part of the campaign in Bihar. Lalu, a former chief minister and the leader of a party that has the most number of seats in the Bihar Assembly, is serving a sentence in a fodder scam case in Ranchi, where he is currently admitted under incarceration at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences for several ailments.

Lalu had been out on bail during the last Assembly elections in 2015 and had campaigned for the then Mahagatbandhan, an alliance of the RJD, JDU and the Congress, that had emerged victorious.

Besides existing guidelines such as social distancing and wearing of masks, Friday’s order lays down that election authorities will have to carry out thermal scanning of every voter at the entrance of each polling premise.

Guideline 10.4 says: “If temperature is above the set norms of MoHFW (health ministry) at first reading, then it will be checked twice and if it remains, then the elector shall be provided with token/certificate and will be asked to come for voting at the last hour of poll. At the last hour of poll, such electors shall be facilitated voting, strictly following Covid-19-related preventive measures.”

Gloves will be given to every voter, and sanitisers will be available at every booth. No polling station will cater to more than 1,000 voters. Previously, the upper limit was 1,500 voters.

Nomination forms will be made available online. However, they will still have to be submitted in person, but only two persons will be allowed to accompany the nominee.
Only groups of up to five persons will be allowed to campaign door to door. For road shows too, only convoys of five vehicles will be allowed, and there will have to be a minimum gap of half an hour between two convoys.

Rallies will take place at designated grounds, with markings made for social distancing. The venues will be monitored by officials, including health regulators. Parties and candidates have to ensure thermal screening, masks, and sanitisers at rallies.

Election officials will be using larger halls for polling, counting and other activities to ensure social distancing. Counting is expected to take longer.