Ahead of election results on May 2, it is necessary to acknowledge the ongoing pandemic and how political gatherings have turned out to be super spreader events in the past weeks. As the 2nd wave of coronavirus wreaked havoc in the nation, political rallies and gatherings continued in full swing, contributing to a rapid surge in coronavirus infections, leading to the collision of healthcare systems across the nation and loss of lives.
Taking a lesson from the damage done due to these political events, all victory processions have been banned by the Election Commission of India on the day, or, after the day of counting. Elections were carried out in 5 states in 8 phases amid a surge in Covid-19 cases, however, no alarm was sounded by any prediction reports or experts of the upcoming crisis when these polling dates were announced by the EC. The spike in the number of Coronavirus was sudden and completely unpredicted.
The impact of increasing coronavirus infections was quite visible in the 7th phase of polls in Bengal as 34 constituencies recorded the lowest voter turnout. Only 59.91 per cent of voter turnout was recorded in South Kolkata while Murshidabad reported the highest turnout, 80.30 per cent. The total number of active Covid-19 infections in Bengal stands at 1,00,615 currently.
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Assembly elections were held in the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam, West Bengal and Puducherry. A notification released by the EC said that not more than two persons should be allowed to accompany the winning candidate or his/her authorised representative receive the certificate of election from the Returning Officer concerned.
