Former Bengal governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi has appealed to the Chief Election Commissioner to consider banning all public rallies and door-to-door campaigning in the state in view of the Covid-19 second wave.

“Please consider placing an immediate ban on all public rallies and door-to-door campaigning in the state till the last vote has been cast on April 29. And direct them to move to virtual campaigning,” Gandhi said in a letter to the CEC, Sushil Chandra, who took over last week.

“The virus’s surge in West Bengal coinciding with the on-going elections in that state jeopardises the health of the electors, the election staff and security personnel on duty simultaneously and staggeringly. It places the election process in the state at dire risk, apart from endangering public health,” he said.

“Social distancing… is out of the question in election rallies. But very few candidates and campaigners, if any, are to be seen wearing masks either. They are subjecting themselves and those they come in contact with, to great, in fact, potentially fatal, risk,” Gandhi added in the letter.

“It should not be said that India’s electoral democracy and India’s public health are out of harmony.”