Punjab: In a major announcement on Monday, the Election Commission of India notified that the assembly elections in Punjab, scheduled on February 14, have now been postponed by six days. This comes after Punjab CM Charanjit Channi requested the poll body to postpone the polls, citing Guru Ravidas Jayanti.
As per the new schedule, elections in Punjab will now be held on February 20. The last date of nomination will be on 1 February 2022, the date of scrutiny on 2 February, the date of withdrawal on 4 February, and the counting of votes will be taken up on 10 March 2022.
Earlier, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Thursday addressed a letter to the Election Commission of India, (ECI) urging for the Punjab Assembly election to be postponed by a week. In his letter, Channi wrote, "It has been brought to my notice by the representatives of Scheduled Caste community, which contributes around 32 percent of the total population of the State, that birth anniversary of Sri Guru Ravidass falls on February 16, 2022."
"And, 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, 2022. In such a situation, many people from this community would not be able to cast their votes for the state assembly polls, " Channi further stated in the letter.
Similarly, leaders from several other political parties had also requested the poll body to reschedule the polls in view of Guru Ravidas Jayanti.
Earlier, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) first raised the demand to postpone the date of elections in Punjab. BSP Punjab chief Jasbir Garhi said that this date should be made on February 20.
After this, the Chief Minister of the Congress government, Charanjit Channi, wrote a letter asking the poll body to postpone the election. Seeing the equation, BJP, Captain Amarinder Singh's Punjab Lok Congress, and Sukhdev Dhindsa's Shiromani Akali Dal (United) have also demanded postponement of the elections.
The Doaba region of Punjab and especially Jalandhar has the highest number of devotees of Shri Guru Ravidas Ji. Devotees say that they want to contribute to this important stage of democracy, but due to the lack of foresight of the commission, they may be deprived of voting. For this reason, devotees had appealed to postpone the date of voting for a week.
For the 645th birth anniversary of Sri Guru Ravidas Ji on February 16, the people of Punjab will leave Punjab by special trains on 13-14 February to visit his birthplace in Govardhanpuri, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. People will keep coming back till a day or two after February 16 thus they will not be able to vote.
