Almost all the political parties that took part in a meeting organised by the Collector here on Monday demanded that the polling date for the Lok Sabha election in Madurai be changed as it fell during the Chithirai festival.
During the closed-door meeting organised to sensitise the parties on the Model Code of Conduct, which came into force with the announcement of the election dates, representatives of political parties pointed out that the car festival of the Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple and the Ethir Sevai of Lord Kallazhagar fell on April 18 — the day of polling.
They highlighted that lakhs of people from Madurai and surrounding districts would be gathering in the city, not just on polling day, but also the preceding day, when the celestial wedding at the Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple is scheduled to take place, and the day after polling, when Lord Kallazhagar’s entry into Vaigai river would be observed.
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The parties argued that it would be virtually impossible to conduct the election on April 18 as doing so would result in low voter turnout and pose difficulties in enforcing the rules laid down by the Election Commission (EC). They demanded that the polling date be changed not only for Madurai, but also for nearby districts.
Addressing the media, Collector S. Natarajan said he would forward the representations of the political parties to the EC.
However, he was non-committal on whether the district administration would formally demand that the EC changes the polling date.
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Noting that the district administration was working to conduct the election on the scheduled date for the time being, he said mitigation plans involving the deployment of additional personnel and the extension of polling time in certain areas were being worked out.
On the difficulties pertaining to security arrangements, he said alternative arrangements for ensuring law and order were yet to be discussed.