The Election Commission on Sunday partially relaxed the Covid restrictions on campaigning, stopping short of lifting the ban on road shows.

On a request from political parties, the poll panel has also rescheduled the two-phase legislative council elections in Uttar Pradesh to avert a clash with Assembly poll dates.

State-specific Covid regulations will continue to take precedence over the Election Commission’s relaxations.

“Ban on road shows, pad-yatras, cycle/ bike/ vehicle rallies and processions will remain as it (was) before,” a poll panel statement said.

“Restrictions regarding outdoor meeting/ indoor meetings/ rallies will be further relaxed subject to condition that the number of persons attending the indoor/ outdoor meetings/ rallies will be limited to maximum of 50 per cent of the capacity of indoor halls and 30 per cent of the open ground capacity or as fixed by DEO (district election officer) as per requirement of the social distancing norms and whichever is less.”

Previously there was an additional cap of 1,000 people for outdoor meetings, and 500 for indoor meetings.

Polling for the 36 legislative council seats in Uttar Pradesh, originally scheduled on March 3 and 7 coinciding with the last two phases of the Assembly polls in the state, will now be held on April 9.

The poll panel said in a separate statement that political parties had cited the “difficulties in simultaneously carrying out their election management matters in the two elections” and the possibility of “confusion among the party workers and electors at large”.

The parties had also stressed that the voters in the legislative council elections were “party representatives who are actively engaged in the ongoing (Assembly) elections”.