Haryana BJP Wants Assembly Polls Date Changed Due To This Reason, AAP, Congress React

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Haryana unit has requested Election Commission of India (ECI) to change the date for Assembly election in the state that are scheduled to take place in one single phase on October 1. The party has cited holidays before and after the election date that could impact a lower voter turnout.

A Haryana BJP leader on Saturday said the letter was sent by the party's state unit chief Mohan Lal Badoli to the poll body.

Haryana's Chief Electoral Officer Pankaj Agarwal confirmed that the commission received a copy of the communication on Friday over email.

"We have received the communication from state BJP and forwarded it to the Election Commission," Agarwal said.

Varinder Garg, a member of the BJP's state election management committee, said, "We have reasoned that the Assembly election date of October 1 (Tuesday) is preceded by a weekend and followed by more holidays which might hit the voting percentage as people tend to go on vacation on long weekends." 

Garg said September 28-29 are Saturday and Sunday while October 1 is a poll holiday. It is followed by more holidays as Gandhi Jayanti falls on October 2 and Maharaja Agrasen Jayanti on October 3, he said.

"We have written to the Election Commission in this regard. For a better turnout, any new date once the string of holidays is over should be fine," Garg said.

By taking a day's leave on September 30, people will have six holidays. Due to this long weekend, there is a strong possibility that several families might go on a vacation and give voting a miss, Badoli said in his letter to the EC.

If it happens, the voting percentage would reduce drastically, he added.

Badoli also said that on 'Asoj Amavasya' on October 2, several members of the Bishnoi community of Haryana will leave for Nokha tehsil of Bikaner in Rajasthan to participate in an annual fair held on the occasion. This too can affect the voting percentage, he further said.

Badoli wrote that it has been the continuous effort of the EC to ensure that the maximum number of people exercise their franchise to strengthen democracy.

Therefore, it would be appropriate that the date fixed for voting for the Haryana Assembly election be changed. While determining a fresh date for the election, it should be made certain that there is no holiday the previous or the following day, he wrote.

We believe that if the EC does this, more and more voters will be able to participate in the election, he wrote.

AAP, Congress taunts BJP

While the opposition Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) slammed the BJP, claiming that the ruling party was panicking as it could sense defeat, Abhay Chautala's INLD too sought the deferment of polls.

EC announced poll date on August 16

The EC on August 16 announced that assembly polls in Haryana would be held in a single phase on October 1 and the results would be declared on October 4.

The BJP is eyeing a third consecutive term while the Congress is looking to wrest power from the ruling outfit. The tenure of the current Haryana Vidhan Sabha ends on November 3.

With inputs from PTI