CHANDIGARH: The Election Commission of India on Monday postponed the Punjab Assembly elections to February 20.
The polls were originally scheduled to be held on February 14. However, all the political parties -- Congress, AAP, SAD, BSP, BJP, and Punjab Lok Congress --had requested the commission to defer the polls in the state by a week in view of Guru Ravidas Jayanti.
As lakhs of devotees visit Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh on February 16 to celebrate the festival, the parties felt that they would not be able to cast their votes on that day.
The commission announced this after a meeting on the demands of political parties.
Earlier in the day, members of Guru Ravidas Tiger Force blocked the main national Amritsar-Delhi highway at PAP Chowk in Jalandhar demanding a delay in elections by a week in view of the Guru Ravidass Jayanti programme.
Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi has written to the Election Commission of India on January 13 to defer the assembly polls by a week. Channi said the representatives of the Scheduled Castes communities, which comprises 32 per cent of the state’s population, have told him that a large number of people from the community would visit Varanasi between February 10 and February 16 and thefore may not be able to vote.
Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, BJP and its allies, and the BSP had urged the poll panel to postpone the date of voting as lakhs of followers of Guru Ravidas travel to Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh to celebrate the day.
In a statement, the Commission said polls would now be held on February 20.
It coincides with the third phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh.
The parties had said that several followers of Guru Ravidas would not be able to exercise their franchise on February 14 as they would be travelling.
The birth anniversary of Guru Ravidas is on February 16. "In such a situation, many people from this community would not be able to cast their votes which ise their constitutional right.
They (Dalit communities) have requested that the voting date may be extended in such a way that they will be able to visit Banaras from February 10 to February 16 and participate in the assembly elections," the letter added.
On Sunday, the BJP demanded that the assembly elections should be postponed. In the letter to the ECI the party wrote, "On this pious occasion, millions of the devotees would visit Banaras in Uttar Pradesh to celebrate the Gurparb. So it would not be possible for them to participate in the voting process. It is therefore requested to your good self that the date of voting may be postponed so that these voters of Punjab could participate in the election process."
Punjab BJP general secretary Subhash Sharma said that the state has a substantial population of followers of Guru Ravidas, including the Scheduled Caste (SC) community which is about 32 per cent of the population of Punjab.
The Punjab Lok Congress floated by former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt) also wrote to ECI supporting the demand for postponing the election by a week.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) demanded the same. Punjab BSP president Jasvir Singh Garhi was the first to demand postponement of these elections by a few days.