The Election Commission on Saturday (August 31, 2024) postponed the date of polling for the Haryana Assembly elections to October 5 from October 1, citing a centuries-old festival of the Bishnoi community.
Counting of votes for Jammu and Kashmir as well as Haryana will now be held on October 8 instead of October 4.
The poll body said the date was changed keeping in mind the Bishnoi community’s 300-400-year-old practice in remembrance of its Guru Jambheshwar.
The EC had received representations from the national president of the All India Bishnoi Mahasabha, Bikaner, Rajasthan, which said the festival fell on October 2 this year. Thousands of Bishnoi families residing in Sirsa, Fatehabad and Hisar in Haryana would be travelling to Rajasthan during those days and would be unable to vote, it said.
BJP request
The commission also got requests from the Haryana BJP for postponement of the election because of holidays before and after October 1. In a written representation to the EC, Haryana BJP chief Mohan Lal Badoli said people tend to go on vacation in the week before and after October 1, and that could impact the voter percentage.
He had reasoned that Saturday (September 28) was a holiday for many, followed by Sunday. October 1 would be a poll holiday in the State, which was followed by Gandhi Jayanti on October 2, again a holiday. October 3 is also a holiday on account of Maharaja Agrasen Jayanti.
The Congress State unit had then taken a dig at the BJP, with former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda saying that the saffron party had already accepted defeat.
The revised polling date also addresses concerns over the long stretch of holidays.
Past instances
EC sources said the commission had adjusted election dates in the past as well to respect the sentiments of various communities.
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For instance, during the Punjab Assembly election in 2022, the commission postponed the poll by a week to accommodate devotees travelling to Varanasi for Guru Ravidas Jayanti. Similarly, in Manipur during the 2022 Assembly election, the commission changed the polling dates to respect the Christian community’s Sunday prayers. Likewise, in the 2023 Rajasthan Assembly election, the commission rescheduled polling originally scheduled on Devuthani Ekadashi, a day significant for mass weddings in Rajasthan. In the U.P. Assembly election in 2012, poll date was changed in view of Barawafat.
