Bharatiya Janata Party vice president and former Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh on Wednesday urged the Election Commission to postpone the second phase of Chhattisgarh assembly polls scheduled on November 17 in view of the Chhath festival. He said a large number of voters will not be able to take part in the electoral process due to the festival. The Chhath festival will be celebrated from November 17 to 20 this year.
Singh took to X and said that the second phase of Chhattisgarh assembly election is coinciding with Chhath puja festival due to which a large number of people will not be able to take part in the electoral process. “I request @ECISVEEP to please postpone the second phase of voting, so that more and more voters can take part in the electoral process and exercise their franchise,” he added.
Earlier, the Aam Aadmi Party had made a similar demand in the poll-bound state. A large number of people from Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh who live in Raipur, Bilaspur, Bhilai, Jagdalpur, Korba and other cities of Chhattisgarh celebrate the Chhath festival every year. The saffron party has fielded incumbent MLA Raman Singh from his traditional seat Rajnandgaon, which will go to polls in the first phase along with 19 other constituencies.
Chhattisgarh will go to polls on November 7 and November 17. The election will be held in two phases and votes will be counted on December 3, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced on Monday.
With the poll schedule announcement, the model code of conduct (MCC) came into effect. The state will see a direct contest between BJP and Congress even though some new entrants like AAP, Hamar Raj, a newly founded outfit by veteran tribal leader and former Union Minister Arvind Netam and Sarv Aadi Dal (SAD), which aims to build an alliance of minorities and adivasis, could influence the outcome in some constituencies.