Even Covid patients will be able to vote in person
The Election Commission had previously explored the possibility of allowing voters age 65 and over to vote by mail, but deemed it too great a logistical challenge to do so. However, voting by mail will be allowed for voters age 80 and over, and for Covid-19 patients, suspected cases, and those in quarantine.
Covid-19 patients will have the additional option to vote in person, but only during the last hour of voting under very strict restrictions. Suspicious and quarantined cases will also be able to vote during this hour. Voters with a fever on polling day will receive tokens and will be asked to return to the booth during the last hour of voting.
What are the new measures for polling stations?
Voting has been reduced to three phases from five in 2015, and the maximum number of voters per booth has dropped to 1,000 from 1,500. The number of polling stations has seen a sharp increase to over 1 lakh from around 65,000 in the last elections.
The voting booths will be equipped with hand sanitizers and staff will receive masks, face shields, gloves and other personal protective equipment. EC will also purchase a 7.2 million rupee pair of single-use gloves for voters using electronic voting machines. Thermal scanning will be required at all election activity sites and masks will be mandatory.
Polling station equipment and staff
* Hand sanitizers – 7 lakh
* Masks – 46 lakh
* PPE lots – 6 lakh
* Face shields – 7.6 lakh
* Pair of gloves – 23 lakh
The duration of the polls has been extended by one hour from 7 to 18 hours, except in regions affected by left-wing extremism.
How will the campaign change?
Covid-related restrictions will also cover public campaigns. Both nominations and deposits can be submitted online now. In-person nomination presentations, which generally turn into public meetings for reputable candidates, are restricted to two people in addition to the candidate and two vehicles. The door-to-door campaign is limited to five people, including the candidate, but excluding security personnel.
Roving demonstrations will be allowed, but convoys can only have five vehicles, compared to 10 above, and the space between convoys must be 30 minutes. Public rallies, with social distancing, will be allowed at specially chosen venues in each district. However, it is not clear if the size of the rallies will be limited. CEC Sunil Arora said district authorities will issue permits for demonstrations and decide sanctions if the rules are violated.
What is the Covid-19 situation in Bihar?
Bihar has 1.75 lakh of confirmed cases, the 10th highest among Indian states
(click on the graphic below).
It has reported about 1,500 new cases a day for most of September, although the daily increase in infections has been declining since August. Since September 24, Bihar is testing 5,300 people per lakh of population per day. Patna is the worst affected district, followed by Muzaffarpur, Bhagalpur and East Champaran.
How are other countries handling the elections?
At least 60 countries have postponed elections during the pandemic, although dozens have done so with special precautions. But the domino effect has been a decline in voter turnout and new outbreaks related to voting in some countries. In Belarus, for example, elections were followed by widespread protests, possibly leading to an increase in cases. And Iceland experienced a 9 percentage point decline in turnout from previous elections.
South Korea, on the other hand, saw no new voting-related cases after its election in April. Rules on social distancing and masks were strictly enforced and special booths were made for sick voters. The temperatures of all voters in the booths were checked and those with fever were allowed to vote in a separate booth. The country recorded its highest electoral turnout since 1992.
Countries also frequently disinfect polling stations and remove shared materials. In Poland, the booths were also aired for 10 minutes every hour. In France, voters were asked to bring their own pens, and in Suriname, where votes are cast with fingerprints, voters tattooed their thumbs with a cotton swab instead of dipping them into shared ink jars.
Some countries staggered voting hours to reduce the number of people at the polls at the same time. Many, like India, increased the number of booths and extended the duration of voting.
The rallies were restricted or drastically altered in several countries. Mongolia, for example, required the organizers of the rallies to ensure social distancing, the use of masks and adequate ventilation. However, Singapore and Malaysia completely banned public demonstrations.
Australia and the US expanded alternatives to voting in person, such as voting by mail, although in many places online voting was not encouraged due to security concerns and the short time frame to implement new systems. The United States, however, is experiencing unprecedented opposition to voting by mail with President Donald Trump, raising concerns about voter fraud and the imposition of restrictions on the United States Postal Service.
Source: Press reports, Council on Foreign Relations, Electoral Commission
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