Lucknow: On Saturday, the Election Commission announced the dates for the assembly elections to be held in five states of the country, including the country's largest state UP and Punjab. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sushil Chandra suggested the political parties do their campaign digitally. He said that after this the situation would be reviewed and new instructions would be issued. Till then there will be no pad yatra, cycle yatra or roadshow. After these guidelines, the road ahead will not be easy for the officers and parties.
A prominent officer of the Election Commission said that an account of the candidate going to contest the election is opened, in which the details of all his expenses are given. The candidate will now have to do this for virtual rallies and events also. Apart from this, as before, the election code of conduct will be applicable to the candidates, in which there are some rules set for the guidance of political parties and candidates.
The official said candidates will have to apply for permission from the 'Media Certification and Monitoring Committee', which normally issues certificates for advertisements. Earlier this week, the Election Commission announced that the expenditure limit for candidates has been raised from ₹28 lakh to ₹40 lakh. He said that one reason for this is the increased expenditure on digital promotion due to the pandemic. BJP had started digital rallies before the Bihar assembly elections in 2020. It will be interesting to see how political parties proceed under the new rules in the first election due to the transition this year.
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Polling in Punjab will be held on a single day, results will come on March 10