EC asks five poll-bound states to step up Covid vaccination drive

Days after assessing the Covid-19 situation in the five poll-bound states, the Election Commission has asked them to step up the inoculation drive against the disease and ensure that the personnel to be deployed on election duty are 'double vaccinated'.

In a recent letter to the chief secretaries of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Manipur and Punjab, the EC has also reminded the five states that polling personnel come under the category of frontline workers and are eligible for the 'precaution dose' of the Covid vaccines.

The commission has said the polling personnel to be deployed in these states should be fully vaccinated and those eligible for the second dose of the vaccines should be administered the jabs on a priority basis.

While the tenure of the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly ends in May, the terms of the legislative assemblies of Goa, Manipur and Punjab end on different dates in March.

The EC is likely to announce the poll dates for the five states in the first half of this month.

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