Haryana BJP urges EC to postpone October 1 Assembly polls, cites long weekend

Haryana Assembly Elections: The BJP unit of Haryana has urged the Election Commission of India to defer the scheduled Assembly polls slated for October 1. BJP has cited holidays before and after the election date that could lead to lower voter turnout.

Haryana's Chief Electoral Officer Pankaj Agarwal confirmed that the commission has received a copy of the communication on Friday over e-mail.

"We have received the communication from state BJP and forwarded it to the Election Commission..," Agarwal told PTI.

Varinder Garg, a member of the BJP's state election management committee, told PTI, “We have reasoned that Assembly election date of October 1 is preceded by holiday on weekend and followed by some holidays which may hit the voting percentage as people tend to go on vacation on long weekends which are followed by holidays.”

"Saturday (September 28) is a holiday for many, while Sunday is a holiday. October 1 is a poll holiday in the state which is followed by Gandhi Jayanti on October 2, which is a holiday and October 3 is also a holiday on account of Maharaja Agrasen Jayanti," he said.

Haryana Assembly Elections

The Haryana Assembly elections will be held in a single phase on October 1 . The announcement was made by the Election Commission on 16 August. Votes for Haryana elections will be counted on October 4.

According to the timeline shared by the poll body, a gazette notification will be issued on September 9. Nominations must be submitted by September 12 with the next day allocated as the final date for scrutiny of nominations.

The polls will be held on October 1 (Tuesday) with votes being counted in the same week on Friday.

Haryana is likely to see a four-way contest between the BJP, the Congress, the JJP and the AAP. The term of the current government will end on November 3.