Bengaluru: Former Prime Minister, JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda has called for curtailing election victory celebrations, and postponement of all byelections and local elections by six months on Monday as part of measures to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Deve Gowda suggested that all major public gatherings be banned for the next six months in order to contain the spread.

“Election victory celebrations in states that gone to the polls this month should be curtailed right away. All by-elections and local elections should be postponed by six months because no state legislature term expires after May this year,” he said.

Deve Gowda opined that the Election Commission should evolve new rules for conducting safe elections during this time, while the vaccination program must be accelerated.