Not a single person can be spotted wearing a mask or following physical distancing at a rally Union home minister Amit Shah addressed at Moradabad in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh on Thursday, at a time Covid cases have been rising steeply in the country.

Shah held another rally in Unnao, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a public meeting in election-bound Uttarakhand. Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, too, has been drawing huge number of people at his rath yatra.

The Election Commission of India on Thursday said all parties had agreed to go ahead with the polls in Uttar Pradesh early next year.

In Nashik, Maharashtra, Shiv Sena leader and parliamentarian Sanjay Raut said when some journalists asked him why he was not wearing a mask at a public event: “Prime Minister Narendra Modi tells people to wear masks, but he himself doesn’t wear one…. Modi is the leader of the nation. I follow the Prime Minister and therefore, I do not wear a mask, and even people do not wear masks.”