![]() The Model Code of Conduct enters into force the day after the commission announces the election dates – which it did on February 27. The Election Commission is likely to be petitioned again as it has scheduled state elections in the key states of West Bengal and Assam from March 27, and in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Kerala from April 6. Patel as acknowledging the complaint “had substance and will apply to the entire state” and that his office would write to “district and civic body health departments, notifying that they can’t use the current form of the certificate and the application.” Indian Express quoted additional district collector D.R. In fact, before the civic body polls rolled around in Gujarat, the Vadodara Congress chief had written to state election officers last month alleging the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) violated the Model Code by displaying Modi’s pictures on the Co-WIN app and on the provisional certificates. The use of Modi’s photograph on the vaccination certificate is also being seen by the opposition Congress as an attempt to influence voters. The promise was especially controversial because vaccination policy in a pandemic has to be nationally determined and not driven by local or political considerations. Experts at the time had questioned the propriety of offering vaccines at no cost only in exchange for votes. In India, the attempt to use COVID-19 vaccinations for political gain first became evident during the Bihar assembly elections last year, when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said it would vaccinate everyone in the state free of cost if it won the election. The UK’s National Health Service vaccination card is even smaller, about the size of a business card, and whose only image is of a crown. Another issued by Israeli authorities in December 2020 is similarly bare. India’s vaccination certificates are in stark contrast to the certificates or cards that the US, Israel and some other countries have issued to those who have received their prophylactic jabs.įor example, a syndicated photograph of speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi’s certificate only shows a logo of the US Centres for Disease Control, plus information about the vaccine dosage, schedule and logistics. ![]() One resident of Puducherry posted his certificate on Twitter along with words of praise for Modi: “Sir Modi jee knows what to do, when to do, how to do”. ![]() ![]() Below the Modi banner, Co-WIN lists a helpline number in English and Hindi. Provisional certificates issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, through its COVID Vaccine Intelligence Network (Co-WIN) platform, to all those vaccinated carry a prominent strip at the bottom with the photograph of Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with exhortations in English (“Together We Will Defeat Covid-19”) and Hindi (“ davai bhi aur kadai bhi“, “medicines as well as rigour”).Įach certificate also includes the beneficiary’s basic details, the name of the vaccine candidate administered (Covishield or Covaxin), the location of the dose and the batch number and due date for the second dose. New Delhi: As governments democratic and authoritarian begin the process of vaccinating citizens against COVID-19, India has emerged as perhaps the first – and so far, only – country in the world whose leader is using vaccination certificates to promote his own politics and cult of personality. ![]()
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