Election Commission of India bans victory processions amid COVID-19 surge

NEW DELHI, April 27 (Xinhua) -- The Election Commission of India (ECI) Tuesday ordered a ban on all victory processions on the day of, or even after, counting of votes for the states amid a COVID-19 surge.

The counting of votes is scheduled for May 2.

Local elections were recently held in the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam, Puducherry and West Bengal. While elections were completed in the four states, West Bengal is going for voting in the last phase on Thursday.

"No victory procession after the counting on May 2 shall be permissible," reads the order from ECI. "Not more than two persons shall be allowed to accompany the winning candidate or his/her authorized representative receive the certificate of election from the Returning Officer concerned."

The election body said keeping in view the surge in COVID-19 cases throughout the country, the commission has decided to make more stringent provisions to be followed during the process of vote counting.

For the sixth straight day, India recorded over 300,000 cases.

According to the federal health ministry on Tuesday morning, the country reported a daily surge of 323,144 cases and 2,771 related deaths in the past 24 hours.