Citing long weekend, Haryana BJP wants polls deferred; Congress, AAP say party sensing defeat

Haryana Chief Electoral Officer Pankaj Agarwal confirmed that the commission received Badoli’s letter on Friday over e-mail. “We have received the communication from state BJP and forwarded it to the Election Commission,” Agarwal said.

In his letter to the EC, Badoli said, “The polling should be postponed for a few days because there are several holidays before and after October 1. Being the voting day, October 1 will be observed as a holiday. Before that, there is a Saturday and Sunday that are also off-days and October 2 and 3 are also holidays because of Gandhi Jayanti and Agrasen Jayanti”.

By taking a day’s leave on September 30, government and private establishment employees will have six holidays. “Due to this long weekend, there is a strong possibility that several families might go on a vacation and give voting a miss. If it happens, the voting percentage would reduce drastically,” Badoli said.

Badoli also said that on ‘Asoj Amavasya’ on October 2, several members of the Bishnoi community of Haryana will leave for Nokha tehsil of Bikaner in Rajasthan to participate in an annual fair held on the occasion. This too can affect the voting percentage, he further said.

The BJP state chief, in his letter, also mentioned that in the past the EC had changed the date of polling. “For example, the Punjab Assembly elections, which was initially scheduled for February 14 was changed to February 20 due to Ravidas Jayanti that was on February 16, 2022,” he said.

In 2022, the then Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, the BJP and its allies, and the BSP had urged the poll panel to postpone the date of voting as lakhs of followers of Guru Ravidas travel to Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh to celebrate the day.

Badoli wrote that it has been the continuous effort of the EC to ensure that the maximum number of people exercise their franchise to strengthen democracy. “Therefore, it would be appropriate that the date fixed for voting for the Haryana Assembly election be changed. While determining a fresh date for the election, it should be made certain that there is no holiday the previous or the following day,” he wrote.

Badoli was also the BJP’s candidate from Sonipat Lok Sabha seat but lost to Congress’ Satpal Brahmchari by nearly 21,000 votes.

INLD’s Chautala, meanwhile, too cited the holidays before and after the polling date saying it “will certainly affect the voting percentage adversely and there is a likelihood of 15 to 20 per cent shortfall in voting percentage”.

Besides, training of staff for election as well as preparation of elections will be affected adversely,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Congress was quick to take a jibe at BJP for initiating such a move. “BJP is writing to the EC asking to postpone the elections because people will go on holidays. This is akin to a child making making an excuse of stomach ache on the morning of the exam. But now, no excuse will work, Haryana has made up its mind for change,” the party said in Hindi on its official X handle.

“Chutti hona tayy hai, is liye chutti ka bahaana bana rahe hain (since they are going to lose, they are giving excuses),” Congress MP from Sirsa Kumari Selja said on X.

Former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda said, “It has been more than a week since the EC announced the poll date. The BJP wants the polls to be deferred as it has accepted defeat. Polls should be held according to the date fixed by the EC… People of Haryana don’t want to see the BJP government in power even for a day,” he said.

Hooda’s son and Rohtak MP Deepender Hooda while referring to Badoli’s letter, said, “It shows how scared the BJP is of the elections”.

“The BJP is staring at defeat and is therefore coming up with such arguments. It has no issues, work or achievements to show to the people and no candidates to distribute the tickets. This is why the BJP is conspiring to postpone the elections by giving an excuse for holidays,” Deepender said in Hindi on X.

The voters of Haryana are aware. They will not go anywhere for a holiday, but will come to the polling booth in large numbers to vote out the BJP government, he added.

The AAP’s Haryana unit said even before the elections took place, the ruling BJP had started looking for excuses as it could sense its impending defeat in the election. In a post on X, the AAP said if the BJP had done work in the state, it would not have been seeking postponement of polls. This time the BJP’s defeat is certain, it said.

The EC on August 16 announced that assembly polls in Haryana would be held in a single phase on October 1 and the results would be declared on October 4. The BJP is eyeing a third consecutive term while the Congress is looking to wrest power from the ruling outfit. The tenure of the current Haryana Vidhan Sabha ends on November 3.