The Election Commission of India on Friday ruled out the possibility of clubbing the last three phases of the polls in Bengal in view of Covid but banned campaigning between 7pm and 10am.

The poll panel also extended the no-campaign window before the date of polling from 48 hours to 72 hours.

The guidelines were announced after an all-party meeting in Calcutta, where the Trinamul Congress proposed the merger of the last three phases of polling.

Invoking powers under Article 324 of the Constitution, Election Commission secretary Madhusudan Gupta said in an order: “No rallies, public meetings, street plays and nukkad sabhas shall be allowed on any day during the days of campaign between 7pm and 10am with effect from 7pm” on Friday.

The silence period at night till Friday was from 10pm to 6am.

“Silence period for rallies, public meetings, street plays, nukkad sabhas, bike rallies or any gathering for campaigning purposes shall be extended to 72 hours before the end of the poll for Phase 6, Phase 7 and Phase 8 in West Bengal,” the commission added.

The commission issued a set of guidelines to ensure that Covid-19 protocols were followed at political rallies.

The parties and the candidates have been asked to provide masks and sanitisers to all rally participants. The cost of the masks and sanitisers will be added to the expenditure limits for the candidates as well as the parties.

The poll panel has given the responsibility of implementing the directive to the district election officers and returning officers.

Partha Chatterjee, state education minister, represented Trinamul at the all-party meeting and argued in favour of clubbing the last three phases but the BJP and the CPM opposed any change.

Swapan Dasgupta, who represented the BJP, said: “We congratulated the ECI for holding polls properly so far.… There is no need to change the schedule now.”

A BJP insider later said: “So many rallies are planned by the Prime Minister and other senior leaders in the three phases in seats which are Trinamul strongholds.… We can’t afford a clubbing of the phases.”

Besides, the merger of dates would have required the deployment of another 1,500 companies of central forces, which was not possible at such short notice. “Then state police would have had to be deployed in many booths, which we don’t want,” said a BJP source.