The Election Commission agreed on Monday to postpone the Punjab assembly election on February 14 after receiving pleas from many political parties, including the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Punjab’s 117 assembly seats will now be voted on on February 20th, according to the Election Commission.
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“The Commission has received several representations from state governments, political parties, and other organisations, all highlighting the movement of a large number of devotees from Punjab to Varanasi for the Sri Guru Ravidas Ji Jayanti celebrations on February 16, 2022. They’ve also mentioned that a large number of devotees arrive in Varanasi about a week before the festival, and that having the election on February 14, 2022 will prohibit a large number of people from voting.” The EC stated.
In a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner on Sunday, Punjab BJP general secretary Subhash Sharma wrote, “The state has a considerable population of Guru Ravidas Ji followers, including the Scheduled Caste (SC) community, which accounts for around 32 percent of the population of Punjab.”
The Punjab Lok Congress (PLC), led by former chief minister Amarinder Singh, backed the call to postpone voting for the state’s 117 assembly seats by a week. The PLC leader stated that rescheduling the election date for Punjab should not be problematic for the poll panel because everything else will remain the same.
Chief Minister Channi further requested that the Election Commission postpone the polling date by six days “to allow over 20 lakh SC devotees to exercise their right to vote for the state legislative assembly.”
In a letter to the poll panel, Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt) chairman Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa also asked for the polling date to be pushed back.
Punjab’s Assembly elections have been postponed by a week, and will now be held on February 20 instead of February 14. After a meeting in New Delhi to discuss the matter, the Election Commission of India (ECI) made the announcement on Monday, January 17th.