Chandigarh: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday revised the polling and counting dates for the upcoming Haryana assembly elections – which was originally scheduled for October 1 and October 4, respectively.
The polling day in Haryana has now been rescheduled to October 5 and the counting day for the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) as well as Haryana assembly elections has also been shifted from October 4 to October 8.
The ECI decision comes in recognition of the Bishnoi community’s cultural and religious practices for which a large number of devotees observes the “Asoj Amavasya’’ festival in honour of Guru Jambheshwar.
This festival, which holds a significant religious importance, was initially coinciding with the original polling date, the ECI said and added that the decision has been taken to honour both the voting rights and the traditions of the Bishnoi community. The said festival falls on October 2 and a large number of Bishnoi families residing in Sirsa, Fatehabad and Hisar districts of Haryana tend to travel to Rajasthan to take part in a religious festival there.
Notably, Jammu and Kashmir which will hold its assembly elections for the first time in a decade, following the abrogation of Article 370, scheduled to take place in three phases starting September 18, mark the first elections in the region since this constitutional change. The Election Commission of India’s announcement comes ahead of the Supreme Court’s September 30 deadline.
Meanwhile, Haryana will conduct its assembly elections in a single phase on October 5, following the rescheduling from October 1.
It may be recalled that the ruling BJP and an opposition party, Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) in Haryana had urged the election commission on August 24 to defer the ensuing assembly elections slated for October 1, citing holidays before and after the poll date that could affect the voter turnout.
The state BJP president Mohan Lal Badoli had written to the election commission requesting a brief postponement of the assembly polls scheduled for October 1, Haryana assembly speaker Gian Chand Gupta told FPJ that the party had reasoned that the assembly polls date has holidays before and after it which might lower voting percentage as people tend to go on vacations on long weekends.
The earlier poll date – October 1 – was preceded by two gazetted holidays on September 28 and September 29 – for being Saturday and Sunday. While the polling day was also a holiday, and it also was followed by holidays on October 2, Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti, and October 3, Maharaja Aggrasen Jayanti.
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“As people generally tend to proceed to vacations on long weekends, so it will certainly affect the voting percentage adversely and there is likelihood of 15 to 20% shortfall in the voting percentage. Besides, training of staff for election as well as preparation of the election will be affected adversely,’’ the INLD leader Abhay Chautala had said in his letter to EC requesting EC to defer the election by a week or so.
In power since 2014, the BJP is eyeing to retain power for the third consecutive term. Congress is the principal opposition party.
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However, countering BJP’s request for postponement of polls, former Haryana chief minister and leader of opposition (LoP) Bhupinder Singh Hooda had said that the way BJP had demanded postponement of the election dates, made it clear that it had accepted defeat even before voting.
It may be recalled that the voting date of the Punjab assembly election in 2022 was also changed from February 14 to February 20, 2022 due to the Sant Ravidas Jayanti on February 16 due to similar reasons.
