Write Comment     |     E-Mail To a Friend     |     Facebook     |     Twitter     |     Print

Haryana Assembly poll date revised to October 5 to accommodate Bishnoi community festival

The Haryana Assembly elections have now been moved forward to take place on October 5, the Election Commission of India said. Accordingly, the counting of votes for Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana Assembly polls will now be held on October 8 instead of October 4. The poll was earlier set to take place on October 1.

The poll body cited “centuries-old festival of Bishnoi community” for this change in date.

The decision has been taken to honour both the voting rights and the traditions of the Bishnoi community, which has upheld a centuries-old practice of participating in the Asoj Amavasya festival celebration in remembrance of their Guru Jambheshwar as per the ECI.

The Commission said it had received representation from National President, All India Bishnoi Mahasabha, Bikaner (Rajasthan) for rescheduling the date of polling set for October 1.

Haryana Chief Electoral Officer Pankaj Agarwal told The Hindu over phone that BJP State president Mohan Lal Badoli in a letter to the EC, received at his office on August 23, had demanded the postponement of the polling scheduled for October 1 saying that two days prior to the polling (September 28-29) and a day after were holidays and several families in the State could go out for vacation by taking a leave on September 30. Agarwal said the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) had also made a similar request. Indian National Lok Dal leader Abhay Singh Chautala too demanded that the polling be postponed by almost a week saying that “there is a likelihood of 15-20% shortfall in voting percentage”. He said the training of the election staff and the preparation for the polling too would be adversely impacted due to the holidays.