Chandigarh. People of the Bishnoi community have welcomed the Election Commission’s decision to postpone the date of Haryana Assembly elections from October 1 to October 5 in view of their centuries-old festival. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has also welcomed this decision of the Commission. The Election Commission, while announcing to hold voting under Haryana Assembly elections on October 5 instead of October 1, said on Saturday that this decision has been taken keeping in mind the centuries-old festival of the Bishnoi community. The Commission had said that the counting of votes for Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana Assembly elections will now be held on October 8 instead of October 4.
Som Prakash Bishnoi, vice-president of the All India Bishnoi Mahasabha, said the entire community is grateful to the Election Commission for the decision to postpone the election date. He said lakhs of members of the Bishnoi community participate in the festival and it takes 15-20 days to organise it. “Earlier we were worried that people (of the Bishnoi community) would not be able to vote or attend the event because they were on a pilgrimage. Now the new polling date has solved our problem and we thank the Election Commission for this,” Som Prakash said.
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Before the change in date, elections were to be held in Haryana along with the third and final phase of assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir on October 1. The Election Commission had said that the decision to postpone the date of Haryana assembly elections has been taken to respect the voting rights and traditions of the Bishnoi community, which has maintained the 300-400 year old tradition in the memory of its guru Jambheshwar. The Commission had said that it had received a representation from the National President of All India Bishnoi Mahasabha, Bikaner (Rajasthan) to reschedule the date of Haryana assembly elections.
According to the Election Commission, the representation said that people from Punjab, Rajasthan and Haryana visit their native village Mukam in Rajasthan for the annual festival held in Bikaner in memory of Guru Jambheshwar. This year the festival falls on October 2 and thousands of Bishnoi families living in Sirsa, Fatehabad and Hisar will travel to Rajasthan on that day, which could deprive them of exercising their franchise. Along with this, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Haryana and the opposition Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) had requested the Election Commission to change the date of polling keeping in mind the long weekend.
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BJP’s Haryana unit chief Mohan Lal Baroli also thanked the Election Commission for postponing the elections. Congress leaders had said that the BJP has accepted defeat by seeking postponement of the elections. When asked about his remarks, Baroli said, “Congress has always worked to weaken democracy. They imposed emergency… they never thought that more and more people should be able to exercise their franchise.” Baroli said, “When I wrote the letter, I had given the reasons for postponing the elections. We welcome the decision of the Election Commission.” BJP’s Haryana unit leader and former Home Minister Anil Vij also welcomed the decision to postpone the elections.
