Election dates for the five State Assemblies — Goa, Manipur, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab — have been announced, regardless of the rising new wave of COVID-19. They will be held between February 10 and March 7, 2022. Conducting an election in normal times is one thing, but doing so in the midst of a pandemic is quite another. On the ECI’s recent visit to Uttar Pradesh, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sushil Chandra said that all parties wanted the polls to be on schedule. He said the ECI would look into the enforcement of COVID-appropriate behaviour in campaigning and voting after the schedule is announced. Once the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) is in force, the ECI’s COVID-related restrictions, first drawn up in August 2020 ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections, will also be in play. The rules include mandatory wearing of masks during the whole election process, from campaigning to casting of votes, holding rallies in identified grounds with social distancing measures in place, and reducing the number of people allowed in roadshows. In the wake of the second wave of the pandemic in April 2021, the ECI put in place more measures such as a longer silence period before polling, reducing the time for campaigning. Going by the spree of inaugurations and groundbreaking ceremonies for government projects by the Prime Minister, Chief Ministers and Ministers, the election season has already begun. Official events are being turned into campaign opportunities by those in power, raising a different question of propriety. As the poll schedule is announced, the burden is now on the ECI to be fair, and seen to be fair. In the last round of elections, its conduct was questioned on various valid grounds. The Election Commission of India must take political parties into confidence and ensure an environment conducive to a fair election process that also limits public health risks.