PANAJI
Health Minister was caught off-guard on Wednesday afternoon when asked about the safety protocols finalized by the State Election Commission for the Zilla Panchayat elections scheduled to be held on December 12.
As per the SEC guidelines, Covid positive persons will be permitted to cast their vote during the last hour on the day of polling, from 4 pm to 5 pm. Such voters will be provided with necessary PPE kits by the BLOs at the polling centres, it has been declared.
However, the state’s Health Minister appeared to have an inkling of the developments. “I have not read the SOPs of the elections at all. But everybody has the right to vote. They have to give the kits to the staff members in the booths and the patients. That should be fine. I don’t see any problem,” he stated before scurrying off from a press conference held at Goa Medical College and Hospital, Bambolim.
The minister said that he had neither received any file nor was the Health Department consulted in the formulation of the safety protocols for the upcoming polls.
