Chandigarh, Nov 4 (PTI) Senior Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa on Monday welcomed the rescheduling of bypolls to four assembly seats in Punjab.
The Election Commission on Monday rescheduled from November 13 to November 20 the assembly bypolls to all nine and four seats in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab respectively, and one seat in Kerala in view of festivals.
Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly Bajwa last month had written to the ECI urging it to consider rescheduling the November 13 byelections to four assembly seats — Dera Baba Nanak, Barnala, Chabbewal (SC) and Gidderbaha — in the wake of Guru Nanak Dev’s birth anniversary on November 15.
Bajwa had then highlighted that the intense engagement in religious rituals on account of celebrations surrounding the birth anniversary of the first Sikh Guru might impact voter turnout and engagement in the electoral process.
“We welcome the ECI decision,” Bajwa told PTI on Monday.
However, he pointed out that he could not foresee the “slow” paddy procurement and lifting in Punjab when he wrote to the ECI last month for postponement of bypolls.
“This letter was written on October 18 not realizing that the paddy lifting was going to be slow and most of the voters would have been missing from polling booths (on November 13),” said Bajwa.
He said the four assembly segments which will go to bypolls were almost rural constituencies.
“Had there been polling on November 13, the voting percentage would have been very low. And now polling will increase as farmers and farm labourers will be free to a large extent by then,” said Bajwa.
Notably, farmers had earlier protested against the “tardy” paddy procurement and lifting in Punjab.
Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Electoral Officer Sibin C said the ECI in a communique informed that large scale social, cultural and religious engagements on November 13 may cause inconvenience to a large number of people, give rise to various logistic issues and may lead to reduced voters’ participation during the poll.
“Now, the Commission, having considered these factors and representations, has decided to change the date of poll from 13.11.2024 (Wednesday) to 20.11.2024 (Wednesday),” said the CEO.
Counting of votes will be held on November 23.
The four assembly seats fell vacant after MLAs from these constituencies were elected to Lok Sabha.
Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, who was Congress MLA from Gidderbaha, was elected from the Ludhiana parliamentary seat while Raj Kumar Chabbewal, who was Congress MLA but later joined AAP, became MP from the Hoshiarpur Lok Sabha seat.
Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, who was Congress MLA from Dera Baba Nanak seat, was elected from Gurdaspur parliamentary seat.
Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, who was AAP MLA from Barnala, was elected as an MP from the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat. PTI CHS KSS KSS
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