Former chief election commissioners are divided over what the Election Commission of India needs to do on the impending Assembly polls in five states in the middle of the third wave of the pandemic.

T.S. Krishna Murthy, who was CEC in 2004-05, told The Telegraph: “Assuming that conditions are not conducive for public rallies on the basis of authoritative opinion, it is an opportunity to regulate public rallies. You can regulate it, ban it or say only one or two meetings in a constituency (will be allowed). It is an opportunity even to ban in sensitive areas where you anticipate violence of hatred, apart from Covid. The EC has to assess the ground realities.”

The absolute counts of new daily infections in each of the five poll-bound states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur are still not as high as those in states with large epidemics such as Maharashtra, Bengal or Delhi. But health experts are worried at the sharp spikes in infections in four of the five states.

Former poll panel chief O.P. Rawat told this newspaper: “The number of confirmed cases month-wise and state-wise around the time elections were held last year makes it clear that there was no abnormal rise in Covid cases in states due for elections. In fact, Maharashtra without any election continued to top the chart with figures as high as 60 lakh confirmed cases as of June 2021, while Karnataka had 28 lakh, Kerala 29 lakh, Tamil Nadu 24 lakh and Delhi more than 14 lakh.

“Bengal’s figures for June 2021 stood at 14 lakh. The EC should make any decision based on hard facts and not based on subjective impressions in the media or other interests.”

Health ministry and EC sources confirmed that public gatherings were not discussed in the ministry’s briefing for the EC on Thursday.

Another former CEC said, requesting anonymity: “If I was the CEC, I would give a statement deploring parties and their leaders for holding rallies. In those days, a negative word from a CEC was enough to put a stop to nonsense. To say that it is up to states to impose restrictions is rubbish. They should have declared the elections by now and imposed restrictions to protect the lives of voters…. If I am the CEC, it is my democratic duty to explain and educate.”

Sonu Sood

The EC on Friday withdrew the appointment of actor and philanthropist Sonu Sood as the “state icon” for Punjab. Icons are ambassadors of the EC to promote voter turnout and education.

Sood, however, tweeted: “...I’ve voluntarily stepped down as the State Icon of Punjab. This decision was mutually taken by me and EC in light of my family member contesting in Punjab Assembly Elections.…”

There have been reports of Sood meeting politicians in the state, which goes against the neutrality requirement of the EC. He held a media conference earlier this week to promote his sister Malvika’s candidature for the Moga seat.