Political parties, their Covid protocol-flouting campaigns behind recent surge: Teeka Ram Meena

Chief Electoral Officer Teeka Ram Meena

Thiruvananthapuram: With coronavirus cases in the state reaching record highs each day, Chief Electoral Officer Teeka Ram Meena has lashed out at the rather tepid attitude with which political parties followed Covid protocols during the election campaign.

The development comes following the growing criticism against the Election Commission for conducting Assembly polls amid the pandemic. Many believe the recent surge is a fallout of unrestricted gatherings where Covid protocols were overlooked.

According to media reports, Teeka Ram Meena said that he had written to the Chief Secretary on March 3, well before the campaign started, advising the government to fix a cap on the number of people attending these public gatherings.

He said there was also an advisory from the Centre to restrict big gatherings, but no action was taken.

Had it been followed, the state could have fared much better, he observed.

Kerala reported 21,890 new Covid cases on Monday pushing the tally to 14,27,545 cases. Of late, the test positivity rate, i.e the number of people likely to contract the virus in a group of hundred, has hovered above 20. There are currently 2,32,812 active cases in the state.

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