In response to pleas from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), and the All-India Bishnoi Mahasabha, the Election Commission declared on Saturday that the Haryana Assembly elections would be rescheduled from October 1 to October 5.
Election commission of India agreed to make alterations in the decided schedule for Haryana assembly elections 2024
Additionally, the election authority rescheduled the Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir vote counts from October 4 to October 8. On August 16, the Commission released the schedule for the single-phase elections in Haryana and the three-phase elections in Jammu & Kashmir.
Mohan Lal Badoli, the president of the Haryana BJP, wrote to the Election Commission on August 22 to request a postponement. He said that there were holidays, both before and after the polling day, giving the people five holidays in a row. This would impact the turnout as people may use the opportunity to travel out of the state.
The EC stated in its announcement of its decision that it had received representations “about mass movement of people of the Bishnoi community of Haryana to Rajasthan to participate in the centuries-old Asoj Amavasya festival celebration” from national parties, a state party, and the All-India Bishnoi Mahasabha.
It might prevent a sizable portion of the populace from exercising their right to vote and lower turnout for the Haryana legislative assembly election. After taking these comments into account, the Commission has decided to move the poll date for Haryana exclusively from October 1, 2024 (Tuesday) to October 5, 2024 (Saturday), according to the EC.
In Jammu and Kashmir, the third phase of voting will still take place on October 1.
The decision to reschedule the Haryana poll date was made, according to EC sources, since it was anticipated that voters from the Bishnoi community in three districts—Sirsa, Fatehabad, and Hisar—would travel to Bikaner to attend the 300-year-old Asoj Amavasya festival, which honours Guru Jambheshwar.
A senior EC source claims that none of the parties brought up these concerns when the Commission, which is made up of Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, visited Haryana last month to assess poll preparations and meet political parties.
According to the source, the EC scheduled the polls with consideration for the state’s declared and reserved vacations.
