Panaji, Dec 5 (IANS): Goa's State Election Commission will take a leaf from the ECI's Covid-19 protocols adopted in the recently concluded assembly elections in Bihar, to conduct zilla panchayats polls in the coastal state.

The polls have been scheduled for December 12, a top official said on Saturday. Counting of votes will take place on December 14.

State Election Commissioner Chokha Ram Garg told a press conference in Panaji that Covid-19 positive persons will also be allowed to vote during the last hour of voting.

7,91,814 voters are eligible to cast their ballots in the 48 zilla panchayat constituencies in the state.

"We will follow all SOPs laid down by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The Election Commission of India has already conducted elections in Bihar. We will follow those instructions," Garg said.

"As far as the position of Covid is concerned, Goa is quite comfortable. The state has around 1,300 Covid-19 positive persons and we have around 1200 polling stations. So it comes down to one (Covid-19 positive) person per polling station. It will not be a problem taking care of one person or two persons who have Covid-19 at the polling station," Garg said.

The official said that voting for the polls would be conducted via ballot paper.

Polling for the zilla panchayat elections was originally scheduled to be held on March 22 and campaigning for the polls had already been carried out by the candidates of various political parties. But the polls were postponed after the central government imposed a nationwide lockdown on March 20.

The state has 50 panchayat constituencies, but while polling in one constituency has been countermanded on account of the death of a candidate, one candidate from the Sancoale constituency has been already declared an unopposed winner.