The Election Commission will meet today to discuss postponing the February 14 assembly polls in Punjab, news agency PTI reported. The Congress, the BJP and its ally SAD (Sanyukt) had appealed to the Election Commission to postpone the elections in Punjab in view of Guru Ravidas Jayanti. The birth anniversary of Guru Ravidas falls on February 16.
In a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner on Sunday seeking postponement of the election, Punjab BJP general secretary Subhash Sharma said, “The state has substantial population of followers of Guru Ravidas ji, including the Scheduled Caste (SC) community which is about 32 per cent of the population of Punjab.” “On this pious occasion, millions of the devotees would visit Banaras in Uttar Pradesh to celebrate the gurparb. So it would not be possible for them to participate in the voting process. It is therefore requested to your good self that the date of voting may be postponed so that these voters of Punjab could participate in the election process,” he wrote.
Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt) chief Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, in a letter to the poll panel, also sought that the date of voting be postponed.
On January 13, Chief Minister Channi had urged the Election Commission to postpone the polling date by six days “for enabling around 20 lakh SC devotees to utilise their right to vote for the state legislative assembly.” A large number of SC devotees from the state are likely to visit Banaras in Uttar Pradesh from February 10 to 16. In such a situation, many people from this community would not be able to cast their votes for the state assembly, said Channi who belong to the SC community.
