Charanjit Singh Channi urged to extend the date due to the birth anniversary of Guru Ravidas.
Chandigarh:
Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi has urged the Election Commission of India to postpone the February 14 assembly elections by six days in view of Guru Ravidas Jayanti.
Voting for the 117 assembly seats in Punjab is to be held on February 14 and the counting of votes will take place on March 10.
In a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra, Mr Channi wrote that it was brought to his notice that some representatives of the Scheduled Caste community, who contribute about 32 per cent of the state’s population, would be celebrating the birth anniversary of Guru Ravidas in February. It falls. 16.
“A large number of Scheduled Caste (Scheduled Caste) devotees (about 20 lakh) from the state are expected to come to Banaras in Uttar Pradesh on this occasion,” Mr Channi wrote.
“In such a situation many people from this community will not be able to vote for the state assembly, which is otherwise their constitutional right,” he said in the letter dated January 13.
“They have requested that the date of polling may be extended in such a way that they can go to Banaras from February 10 to February 16 and participate in the assembly elections as well,” he said.
Mr Channi said, “It is considered appropriate and appropriate that the polling for the 2022 Punjab Assembly Elections may be postponed for at least six days, allowing about 20 lakh people to exercise their right to vote for the State Assembly. can.”
Earlier, Bahujan Samaj Party’s Punjab chief Jasvir Singh Garhi had also asked the Election Commission to hold elections between February 14 and February 20.
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