NEW DELHI, Aug 31: The Haryana Assembly election schedule has been revised by the Election Commission of India. The Haryana assembly election will now be held on October 5 instead of 1 to honour the voting rights and respect the traditions of the Bishnoi community, whose festival falls during this period, the Election Commission (EC) announced on Saturday.
Accordingly, the counting day for both Haryana and the Jammu and Kashmir elections has been revised to October 8 from 4.
The EC acknowledged that the Bishnoi community has upheld a centuries-old practice to participate in the Asoj Amavasya festival in remembrance of Guru Jambeshwar. It, however, did not mention that the ruling BJP was demanding a re-schedule in view of the long week-end holidays during which many of the voters might be travelling out.
The EC said it had received representations from the All India Bishnoi Mahasabha based in Rajasthan’s Bikaner for rescheduling voting day in Haryana. The Bishnoi group said for generations numerous families from Punjab, Rajasthan and Haryana have observed a tradition of visiting their village Mukam in Rajasthan during “Amavas” in the month of “Asoj”, for their annual festival in Bikaner in the memory of their Guru Jambeshwar.
This year, the festival falls on October 2 and thousands of Bishnoi families living in Sirsa, Fatehabad and Hisar would be travelling to Rajasthan on voting day, denying them their voting rights, the EC said. The EC has often adjusted election dates to respect the sentiments of various communities, it said.
During the Punjab assembly election in 2022, the EC postponed the election by a week to accommodate devotees travelling to Varanasi for Guru Ravidas Jayanti. Similarly, in Manipur during the 2022 assembly elections, the EC changed the polling dates to respect the Christian community’s Sunday prayers.
In the 2023 Rajasthan assembly election, the EC rescheduled polling originally scheduled on Devuthani Ekadashi, a day significant for mass weddings in Rajasthan. In the Uttar Pradesh assembly election 2012, the poll date was changed due to Barawafat. Coincidentally, the revised polling day would also resolve any concerns of a six-day holiday by taking a one-day leave on September 30, the EC said.
(Manas Dasgupta)