Representational image  |  Photo Credit: PTI
New Delhi: The Election Commission will on Monday hold a meeting to discuss the request made by political leaders of several parties to defer the next month’s Assembly polls in Punjab in view of Guru Ravidas Jayanti.
Elections in Punjab are slated to be held in single phase on February 14 and the counting of votes will take place on March 10.
Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit S Channi recently wrote to the poll panel urging it to postpone the Assembly polls by six days in the wake of the birth anniversary of Guru Ravidas.
In his letter to Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra, Channi said that it was brought to his notice by some representatives of the Scheduled Castes community, which contributes around 32 per cent of the state’s population, that the birth anniversary of Guru Ravidas falls on February 16.
“On this occasion, a large number of SC devotees (about 20 lakh) 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, which is otherwise their constitutional right,” he stated in the letter written on January 13.
He further said the people from the community have requested that the voting date may be extended in such a way that they are able to visit Banaras from February 10 to February 16 as also participate in the Assembly elections.
“It is considered fair and appropriate that the voting for Punjab assembly elections 2022, may be postponed for at least six days, enabling about 20 lakh people to utilise their right to vote for the state legislative assembly,” he added.
Besides Channi, BJP and Punjab Lok Congress had also requested EC to postpone the Punjab Assembly polls in view of the Guru Ravidas’ birth anniversary.
Earlier, Bahujan Samaj Party’s Punjab chief Jasvir Singh Garhi had also demanded the polls body to reschedule the elections from February 14 to February 20.