COVID-19: EC issues guidelines to conduct polls, allows public meetings and road shows

New Delhi, Aug 21: The Commission has limited the number of persons, including the candidate, for door-to-door campaign to five.Public meetings, road shows and physical campaign in the form of door-to-door campaigns will be permitted in elections during COVID-19 subject to restrictions aimed at curbing the outbreak, as per the guidelines issued by the Election Commission on Friday.The guidelines, which will be put to test in the upcoming Assembly elections in Bihar, allows public meetings and road shows with suitable instructions subject to containment regulations issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the state government. This is significant since a number of political parties had conveyed to the poll body their reservation regarding virtual outreach being the mainstay of the election campaign and had stressed on the need for traditional means of electioneering to be permitted.