Tue. Mar 19th, 2024

New Delhi: Ahead of the largest vaccination drive in the world, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has asked Election Commission (EC) to share electoral roll data for identifying the age group targeted for the first phase, sources told The Indian Express.

The Election Commission (EC) has agreed to the request. The Commission, sources said, is now waiting for a response on the specific data required by the Ministry, reported The Indian Express.

As indicated by the Government’s outline, the immunization will be offered first to medical care workers, frontline workers, and those over 50 years old, trailed by those under 50 with related comorbidities. The priority group of over 50 might be additionally separated into those over 60 and those somewhere in the range of 50 and 60 for a staged rollout.

According to The Indian Express sources, the EC’s discretionary move information has been tried to distinguish individuals over the age of 50 in each surveying station. The EC is currently dealing with a configuration of sharing to ensure voter security, they said.

“One option being considered is that we provide booth-wise information of voters above the age of 50 to the respective states, as opposed to handing over the information of all states to one agency,” said an official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla’s request to the EC came after a meeting between representatives of the Health Ministry and the EC last month.

According to sources, the Health Ministry wanted to understand the structure of the election machinery and how polls are conducted at the grassroots level. This was done since the vaccination drive will be similar to the election process given the similarities in the scale of the two operations.

“Currently, we do not have any legal authority (to assist in the administration of the vaccine). To conduct elections, we are empowered under Article 324. But having said that, given the experience and expertise we have, if someone reaches out to us for a national cause, we will take a call,” he had said.

The Prime Minister’s office has said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going to launch the pan India rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination drive virtually on 16th January at 10:30 AM. This will be the world’s largest vaccination program covering the entire length and breadth of the country.

As per the Prime Minister Office, a total of 3006 session sites across all States and UTs will be virtually connected during the launch. Around 100 beneficiaries will be vaccinated at each session site on an inaugural day.

This vaccination program is based on the principles of priority groups to be vaccinated and Health Care workers, both in government and private sectors including ICDS workers, will receive the vaccine during this phase.