The Election Commission (EC) has rescheduled Assembly bypolls in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Kerala. Now, the by-election for nine seats in UP will be held on November 20 instead of November 13. By-elections for four seats in Punjab and one seat in Kerala will now be held on November 20. The results will declared on November 23. The poll watchdog had earlier changed the date of voting in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir as well.
Now on changing the date in UP, Punjab and Kerala, the Election Commission has said that these election dates have been postponed due to festivals. Election Commission sources say that Kartik Purnima and Guru Nanak Devji's Prakash Parv is on 15 November. Also, the Kalpathi Rastholsevam festival will be celebrated in Kerala from 13 to 15 November.
According to the poll body, festivals would have an impact on voting. Therefore, the dates were changed. EC also says that the dates have been changed at the request of many parties including Congress and BJP. According to the commission, RLD had written a letter to it and appealed to extend the date of the by-election. The letter stated in Uttar Pradesh, people travel 3-4 days before Kartik Purnima. Due to this, the voting percentage may be affected.
A similar letter was written by the BJP to the commission asking to extend the date of voting from 13 November to 20 November. Now when the EC has extended the dates. Samajwadi Party and Congress are calling it a conspiracy of the BJP and are raising questions about the decision of the Election Commission. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav alleged the postponement was an old trick of the BJP to avoid losing elections.
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